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THE -CHICHIMECS" AND THEIR AN- 
CIENT CULTURE, WITH NOTES ON 
THE TEPECANOS AND THE 
RUIN OF LA QUEMADA, 
MEXICO 



BY 
ALES HRDLICKA 



(Reprinted from the American Anthropologist (n. s. ), Vol. 5, No. 3 
July-September, 1903) 



Lancaster, Pa., U. S. A. 

The New Era Printing Company 

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AMFRICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 



N. S., VOL. B, PL. XXXVII 



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MAP OF NORTHERN JALISCO AND SOUTHERN ZACATECAS, SHOWING LOCATION OF 
RUINS AND AUTHOR'S JOURNEY 

(Jtt Ruins. State boundaries. Author's journey.) 



[Reprinted from the American Anthropologist, Vol. 5, No. 3, July-Sept., 1903.] 



THE REGION OF THE ANCIENT " CHICHIMECS," WITH 

NOTES ON THE TEPECANOS AND THE RUIN 

OF LA QUEMADA, MEXICO V 

By ales HRDLICKA 

Introduction 

The great mountainous region of northern Mexico that bore 
originally, with the Spanish, the name of Nueva Galicia and of 
which, somewhat subsequently, a large part was included in the 
Provincia de San Francisco de Zacatecas, is to this day an almost 
unknown country to anthropology. This region extends from the 
valley of Nochistlan in the east to the sierra of the Guachichiles or 
Huicholes in the west, and from the Rio Grande or Santiago in the 
south to the Tepehuane country in the north ; that is, from a line 
about half a degree east of longitude 103 ° to a little west of longitude 
104°, and approximately between 21° and 23° of latitude. The 
territory comprises the northern part of the present Mexican state of 
Jalisco, southern Zacatecas, and the western point of Aguas Calientes, 

To the early Spaniards this was preeminently the country of bar- 
baros, caribes, mekkos, and chichimecos, among whom were distin- 
guished mainly the " Cazcanes," " Teules-Chichimecos, " " Tepeca- 
nos," and "Zacatecos." ' The term " Chichimec," whatever may have 

1 Published by permission of the American Museum of Natural History. Photo- 
graphic illustrations from negatives by the author, now the property of the Museum. 

2 See Orozco y Berra, Geografia de las Lenguas, map and text ; Mota Padilla, 
Hist, lie la Conquista de la Nueva Galicia ; Arlegui, Cronica de San Francisco de Za- 
catecas ; H. H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, vol. I ; Icazbalceta, 
Coleccion de Documentos, t. 11 ; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. vii, lib. ii, cap. xii ; Tor- 
quemada, Monarquia Indiana, t. i, p. 81 et seq. ; and other historians. 

AM. ANTH., N. S,, 5 — 25. 3^5 



SS6 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

been its meaning originally, or in the valley of Mexico, was here 
applied as a term of derision, or rather as a communal surname, ex- 
pressing very much the same sentiment as barbaros, to all the tribes 
indiscriminately and without any expressed intention of connecting 
them ethnically with the Chichimecs of Anahuac or even with each 
other. 

Judging from the number of warriors met by the Spaniards in 
this section, it is evident, even if an allowance be made for possible 
exaggeration, that it must have been well peopled ; but there is 
only limited knowledge of the actual settlements. The best known 
of these were apparently Nochistlan and Teul ; other larger towns 
occasionally referred to'^ are Juchipila and Colotlan. La Quemada 
is mentioned, but already as a ruin. All that is recorded of other 
settlements is that they were situated generally on steep and barely 
accessible elevations. 

As to any possible remains of these settlements, or of the na- 
tives who built them, nothing is known. The great La Quemada 
alone has been visited and described by several archeologists.^ 
Lumholtz, on his journey to the Huichols, touched the northwest- 
ern corner of this territory, but did not make any explorations or col- 
lections. Miss Britton, an American lady interested in an amateur 
way in Mexican archeology, visited, a few years ago, Totatiche, 
Teul, Juchipila, and Nochistlan, but thus far has published nothing 
on her observations. 

The work on which I shall here report was largely unplanned 
and incidental. My presence in Mexico was in the interest of 
physical anthropology, and even in all the exploration and excava- 
tion that I finally undertook, the principal motive of my search 
was the physical remains of the prehistoric people. If I gathered 
anything more, it was for its intimate association with the skeletons 
and to save it from destruction, or, what is but little better, dis- 
persion. In the more remote parts of Mexico, such as I speak of, 
nothing is saved. This is the home of the periodical treasure hunter, 
who, as soon as the dry season sets in and affords him leisure, goes 
to dig for money, buried during revolutions, wherever there is a cave 

1 Mota Padilla, op. cit., p. 55. 

2 Principally Berghes, Tarayre, Nebel, and Batres. 



HRDLiCKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 387 

or a ruin. That is usually the last of the human remains of what- 
ever nature that the cave or ruin contained, most of them being 
broken on the spot and the rest sold to the first comer or given to 
some friend or to children. Under these conditions Mexico itself 
should be grateful to those who at no small risk at times save here 
and there the relics of its past cultures. 

The notes here published are a part of the results of three ex- 
peditions, from the last of which I returned at the close of 1902. 
The expense of the first of these journeys was borne by the American 
Museum of Natural History ; the second by Dr Frederic E. Hyde, 
jr., and the last by Mr B. Talbot B. Hyde, of New York, the whole 
work being under the general supervision of Prof. F. W. Putnam. 

It was on a journey from Mezquitic to the remnant of the Tepe- 
cano Indians, in the valley of the Rio de Bolanos, northern Jalisco, 
after having visited the Huichols early in May, 1898, that I learned 
of certain ruins in the neighborhood and made the first explorations. 
In the early half of 1902 I extended these researches southward 
through the valley mentioned, and in the latter part of that year 
pursued them farther southward and eastward to Zacatecas. My 
journeys are indicated on the accompanying map (plate xxxvii). 

The present notes are given not so much as a record of results 
as an incentive to further investigation in the region ; and they 
are made to follow, without regard to chronology, the route of 
travel. The descriptions of the archeological objects recovered and 
of the skeletons, as well as the detailed observations in physical 
anthropology, are reserved for future publication. 

THE VALLEY OF THE RIO DE B0LA5J0S 
The valley of the Bolanos is a deep barranca, in places several 
miles broad, situated between two parts of the sierra. It begins 
practically at Fresnillo, but more definitely a little above Mezquitic,^ 
and extends in a south -southwesterly to a nearly southerly direction to 
and beyond Askeltan, the seat of the Tepecanos. The whole valley 



1 Originally San Juan Bautista de Mezquitic (see Mota Padilla, p. 354 ; also Arlegui), 
today a town of about 2500 inhabitants, situated in the northern expanded portion of the 
valley of the Rio de Bolanos, three days' horseback journey, or a little over 100 miles, 
from Fresnillo or from Zacatecas. 



388 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

is traversed by the stream from which it takes its name and which 
was largely influential in its formation. Above Mezquitic, and 
again some distance below Nostic/ the valley is more or less " filled 
up " with secondary elevations and mesas, among which the river of 
Bol^nos and its tributaries run in often narrow gorges with here 
and there high, steep to nearly perpendicular walls. The greatest 
width of the valley at its base may exceed eight miles (a little 
south of Mezquitic); in other places, as at the hot springs, it is 
but a narrow canon. Geologically the whole region is granitic 
and volcanic. The river is mostly shallow and offers no obstacles 
to travel during the dry period, but becomes quite impassable at 
the height of the rainy season. The population south of Nostic 
to Askeltan is insignificant, and with the one exception to be men- 
tioned later, is wholly mixed or Mexican. No Indians except the 
Tepecanos are now settled in the valley ; but occasionally one 
here meets traveling Huichols and even Coras. The valley is the 
westernmost of four (Nochistlan, Juchipila, Tlaltenango, and Bolanos) 
extensive and nearly equally deep, parallel depressions, that run, 
separated by high mountain ridges or narrow plateaus, from north 
to south through the region under consideration. 

Indian Occupants North of Askeltan 
In the Mezquitic part of the valley there are some rather vague 
traditions among the whites in regard to Indians who occupied the 
district "a long time ago." There are other and more definite 
traditions of occupancy of parts of the valley more recently by the 
Huichols. I was shown caves near Mezquitic with remnants of rude 
stone habitations, where it is said these Indians have dwelt, and I 
have found figures of deer on stones looking very much like those 
made by the Huichols of today. As the mountain range of this 
tribe forms one of the western boundaries of the valley, the fact that 
there were at some time some Huichol settlements in the valley 
itself is quite possible. 

In Nostic there still lives a single pure-blood Indian (Macias) 
who is a remnant of those who occupied the pueblo during the first 

1 A small but old village ( " Nastic " in Mota Padilla, p. 354) about four and a half 
miles south of Mezquitic, on the Rio de Bolanos. 



hrdlicka] the ancient CHICHI ME C REGION 389 

half of the nineteenth century. This man, who is about seventy 
years of age, informed me that during his childhood the natives in 
Nostic were still numerous, but were annihilated by epidemics and 
during a revolution. They spoke the " lengua Mexicana," which is 
the Nahua (a fact confirmed to me independently by the Tepeca- 
nos) ; this makes it probable that they were the progeny not of 
the original people of the pueblo, but of the introduced fronterizos 
or Tlaxcaltecos. 

Ancient Ruins in the Valley of the Rio de Bolanos 

Remains of Indian occupancy, such as stone implements, shell 
ornaments, pottery, etc., are found throughout the valley of the 
Bolanos ; but there are also a number of more or less large and 
well-defined settlements which will repay further study. 

Mesitas. — The first ruins of any extent occur southeast of the 
town of Mezquitic, and are situated about half-way between this 
and Nostic, on a part of a smaller irregular plain or terrace at about 
the middle of the eastern slope of the sierra of Monte Escobedo. 
The terrace is over a mile in width, and where the ruins are situated 
it is riven by a number of deep, narrow gorges. These gorges 
converge from all directions into a common cafion, which, in the 
form of an ellipse, completely surrounds an oblong, central eleva- 
tion, the top of which is diamond-shaped. The result of the for- 
mation is a number of converging points of land with the isolated 
part in the middle. During the rainy season this central part is 
completely surrounded with water, and is then actually an island. 

The surfaces of all the points, as well as that of the central 
part, are level, and show in most places only the bare bed-rock ; 
but in a few spots there is a thin layer of black soil. The sides 
of the points, as well as those of the central part, are steep, and 
most of them can be scaled only with difficulty. From a yard to 
several yards from the top the rock on some of the points is per- 
pendicular, and this feature is very pronounced about the entire 
central portion.^ 

The central mesa measures two hundred paces in length and 
forty in maximum width ; and it, as well as the various points, is 

' Such cliff formation is quite common about mesas or table-mountains in Mexico. 



390 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

covered with ruins. The place bears no name, but from its char- 
acter it will be referred to as the Mesitas/ 

The more important ruins are found on the middle portion. 
There were apparently habitations as well as other large structures 
on this portion, and there was also a conical mound of moderate size. 
The remains invariably consist of low, square or oblong founda- 
tions, built of quadrangular stones, of moderately large dwelHngs. 
Most of the dwellings were somewhat larger than are the average 
huts of the Huichols today. 

The foundations are quite regular in form. They consist of one, 
two, or exceptionally of three superimposed layers of flat, quad- 
rangular stones, varying from a foot and a half to more than three 
feet in length, from a foot to two feet in width, and from two to 
four inches in thickness.^ The stones were apparently carefully 
selected, so as to form a fairly compact and regular wall. Some of 
the stones seen were nicely hewn or rubbed into the desired shape. 
No cement or mud mortar now remains in the joints of the masonry. 

The main body of the house must have been of wood or reeds, 
as there are but very few loose stones about to account for the 
superstructure ; however, I have never found a trace of wood on 
or in the ground about the foundations, which absence probably 
speaks for the age of the ruins. According to all indications the 
wooden parts of the dwellings were placed but superficially, and in 
time were completely washed away or destroyed by other agencies. 
No fireplaces are visible, these also probably having been washed 
away. The foundations of the houses are in some places almost 
entirely exposed, resting on the bed-rock ; in others they are 
nearly covered with accumulated earth. The entire group of ruins 
bears indication of having been abandoned in the far past, and of 
having been disturbed but very little since, except by the elements. 
There are no traces today of ancient cultivation of the soil in the 
neighborhood. 

Potsherds and pieces of obsidian were found scattered in all the 
ruins, but were not very numerous. The potsherds collected ^ are 

^ A/esa, 'table,' 'table-land'; t/iesita, a small mesa. 

2 Specimens 30-10661, 10662, 10681, in the American Museum of Natural History. 
'These, as well as the majority of the specimens mentioned in this paper, are depos- 
ited in the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. 



HRDLICKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 39I 

mostly thick, crude, and unpolished, but some are decorated with 
incisions or painted red on one surface. Besides these, however, 
there were found fragments of thinner and finer pottery, nicely 
colored on one or both sides, generally in red or brownish, and in 
most instances polished. 

The central mesita is exceedingly difficult to scale, and it has 
probably been visited but very few times since it was originally 
abandoned. The place was apparently fortified, for there still 
exist accumulations of stones, well adapted to defensive purposes, 
along the edges and particularly about the single possible ap- 
proach, toward the northeast. A number of the structures here 
were much larger than the ordinary dwellings, and two or three 
of them were situated on a slight artificial elevation. The founda- 
tions of all these larger houses are like those previously mentioned, 
quadrangular and very regular, but there are more hewn stones 
found in them than in the foundations of the dwellings proper. 
All the large buildings and the mound are situated on the north- 
eastern three-fifths of the mesita. 

Examination of the surface and slight excavation in the ruins 
and mound resulted in finding two large, well-made stone mortars ; 
two slabs of stone with markings ; a small, nicely made stone fetish 
(animal figure) ; a well-chipped white stone arrowpoint ; and many 
potsherds and chips of obsidian. The larger mortar, made of the 
hard trachyte of the region, crumbled to pieces from the effects of 
long exposure, as if made from very soft sandstone. 

The mound was almost wholly made up of stones and proved to 
be a burial mound, containing the remnants of a number of cremated 
human bodies. It was here that the animal figure was discovered. 

A cave was found in the southeastern wall of the central mesita* 
but it contained only a few potsherds. 

Information from all sources was gathered concerning other 
ruins in the valley, and gradually a considerable number of locali- 
ties where some one knew of ruined fincas were recorded. But the 
information was generally meager and not always reliable. Many 
of the localities mentioned were distant as well as difficult of ap- 
proach, but the results of my visits generally proved to be more 
interesting than was expected. 



392 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., s, 1903 

Nostic. — La Escondida, — On the mesas to the east of the little 
town of Nostic are some remnants of old habitations. From one of 
these I have seen a veiy well made, even somewhat artistic, large, 
circular stone that probably served as a pedestal to a statue. In the 
fields about Nostic ancient objects are found quite frequently. To 
the west of Nostic rises a hill called Potrero de Chimulco, or Cerro 
de Chimulco, upon which ruins are found ; and farther in the same 
direction, at the foot of the Sierra Huichol, near the rancho La 
Estancia, is a large, important ruin called La Escondida. In 
this ruin, which was explored only superficially, there are many 
remnants of dwellings similar to those at Mesitas and also larger 
structures and mounds. From this ruin I obtained several objects, 
among which is a fine ceremonial axe ; and from an apparently an- 
cient burial in a nearby cave was excavated a complete skeleton. 

Totoate. — The third ruin, and one that proved to be of much 
archeological interest, lies a little less than three miles south of 
Nostic, on the point of a long, isolated, generally steep-walled but 
not lofty mesa, which for two-thirds of its extent is river-bound. 
The point which projects northward like a A into the expanding part 
of the valley is covered with the ruins of an ancient settlement. 
This is known as Totoate, a name apparently of Nahua origin and 
pertaining to water. This is the only ruin that was explored at all 
thoroughly, and the results were very surprising. 

As at the Mesitas, the southern portion of the point is covered 
with ruins of smaller structures, probably dwellings, while on the 
extremity itself, to the northeast of the body of the ruins, I found a 
group of mounds a rough sketch of which is given in the accom- 
panying illustration (figure 9). 

The ruins consist only of foundations, or bases, and are of the 
same general character as those at Mesitas or La Escondida ; in- 
deed this is true of all those yet to be mentioned in this region. 
Hewn or rubbed, oblong building stones are more numerous at 
Totoate than in the other ruins. The smaller structures, mostly 
of quadrilateral but a few of circular form, are rather close together. 
The surface soil is rich in fragments of thick and crude as well as 
of finer, painted pottery, and in chips of obsidian, chalcedony, and 
other stones. 



hrdlicka] 



THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 



393 



The first noteworthy find in this ruin consisted of a considerable 
number of stone slabs and several portions of the bed-rock (one of 
which measured over six yards square), with peculiar, unusually 
well made and deeply graven petroglyphs. These carvings are all 
executed in a similar manner, and are very different from those 
generally seen farther north. They consist of broad, deep grooves, 
principally curves, and of cup-shaped hollows in the course of the 






Fig. 9. — The mounds of Totoate. (Dotted lines indicate the author's excavations. ) 



lines. Many of the forms represent a coil or a part of one, others 
a human-like figure with a head-dress or striae radiating from the 
head, and there are still other designs. These carvings, although 
deeply made in hard trachyte, are so greatly weather-worn as in 
some instances to be barely traceable (plate xxxviii and figure 10). 
Owing to limitations of space I shall omit details and restrict my- 
self to the statement that in search for burials I excavated mounds 



394 



AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 



[N. s., 5, 1903 



A, B, c, and a part of d (figure 9). Mound a was nearly 200 feet 
in circumference and over 1 1 feet in maximum height. It consisted 
of a thick outer layer of stones (including some broken slabs with 
petroglyphs), beneath which was a large quantity of stones and 
earth, and of a central stone house of seven or eight rooms, a part 
of which was filled with stones and earth and a part with stone- 
covered cremation burials. 

The walls of the house were over seven feet high, well built of 
selected but unhewn flat stones laid in and plastered with adobe 
mortar. This adobe coating (a piece of which is preserved in the 




Fig. 10. — Detail of rock-carvings shown in plate XXXVIII. 



American Museum) was mostly destroyed ; but the remnants found 
show many small parallel tubes, such as could be produced by 
extended stalks of zacate} There were small doorways and little 
square niches in the walls, recalling similar structures in the ancient 
pueblos of New Mexico. 

The remnants of cremated bodies were closely packed in three 
of the central rooms, and with them were buried many fine speci- 
mens of pottery, some of which are unique in character (plate xxxix), 
as well as other objects. There were also charred remnants of well- 
woven cloth, large shell trumpets, shell nose-ornaments (plate xli, 
1-6), ornaments of pyrites, amazon-stone pendants, obsidian knives, 

'Apparently exactly similar specimens of mortar have been eported by Guillemin- 
Tarayre from La Quemada ruin. See Archives de la Commission Scientifiqtie dii Mcx- 
ique, t. Ill, pp. 374-375. Paris, 1869. 



AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 



N. S., VOL. 5, PL. XXXVIII 




ONE OF THE PETROGLYPHS FROM TOTOATE 
(Ma.ximum height, 68 cm ; ma.ximum breadih, 71 cm ) 



HRDLiCKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 395 

a fine ceremonial axe with a well-carved human face (plate xl, 3), etc.^ 

Mound B, less than half as large as mound a, was composed of 
stones with some earth. Near its floor was an ordinary burial. No 
objects other than the bones were found here and these soon fell to 
pieces. 

Mound c, which was large and flat, was composed of stones 
and earth, and yielded a number of burials of the ordinary type, some 
crude and some fine pottery, a quantity of amazon-stone beads, etc. 

Mound D (uncompleted excavation) was found to be com- 
posed of probably four originally separate structur es, the ruins of 
which have coalesced. Remnants of stone walls and two burials 
were found. 

The cremated bones from mound a, all of which, though in small 
fragments, were preserved, belonged mostly to men, but there were 
also the bones of some women and children. Judging from these 
remnants, over fifty bodies must have been deposited in the three 
rooms. Many of the skulls are remarkable by reason of the thick- 
ness (non-pathological) of the cranial walls. Enough was recon- 
structed of two or three skulls to show their identity with those of 
the ordinary burials, as well as with the skull obtained near La Es- 
condida, and with another later found south of Totoate. They all 
belonged to a subbrachy- to brachy-cephalic people of not very large 
stature (as shown by the remnants of the skeleton) or other pro- 
portions. 

Cerro de Chivo. — Cerro Prieto. — To the west of Totoate, on the 
opposite side of the river, rises a more readily accessible mesa of sim- 
ilar height to the last. It is known as Cerro de Chivo (Goat hill) and 
its point shows numerous remnants of habitations similar to those 
of Totoate and Mesitas. A little farther to the west rises a higher, 
isolated ridge called Cerro Prieto (Dark hill), on which are also 
many remnants of ancient dwellings. 

To the east of the mesa of Totoate lies a shallow valley, and here, 
as well as farther south, in the valley of an arroyo that opens from 
the east, are many low remains of stone habitations and also stone 
ridges that had been employed most probably for some agricultural 
purpose. 

' Almost exactly the same form of stone axe has been found at La Quemada. (See 
Batres' report, pi. xx. ) 



396 



AMERICAN ANTHR OPOL O CIS T 



[n. s., s, 1903 



Banco de las Casas. — Seven miles south of Totoate, and at the 
base of the southern extremity of the same mesa, is a small, now 
Mexican settlement called Temoaya. A little west of this, on 
the southernmost point of the mesa, is a quite extensive ruin. The 
locality is known in the neighborhood as the " Banco de las Casas." 

The ruin extends over two terraces of the mesa. It consists 
of many low stone foundations such as those at Totoate ; but on 
the lower and more southerly bank there are remnants of larger 



O 



I'fc— — - 



o 




2 6^. 



U^_.J 



D 



D 




u 

Fig. II. — The mounds, etc., of the principal portion of the Banco de las Casas ruin. 



structures, a number of mogotes (mounds), a ruin that probably was 
a temple, several very low, small, regularly square mounds, and a 
number of walls and patios (figure 11). A brief survey and a little 
digging resulted in the finding of a remnant of a large metate carried 
on the back of an animal figure, probably a turtle ; several larger 
stones with petroglyphs, somewhat similar to those of Totoate ; a 
number of oblong, conical stones without marking, some of which 
stood upright in the ground, apparently as originally planted ; fif- 
teen or sixteen oblong, nicely worked stone slabs with a large 
angular notch in the middle of one of the longer sides (figure 12);^ 

1 These stones were often found in pairs, and if superimposed the notches would 
form a central aperture. 



AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 



N. S., VOL. 6, PL. XXXIX 





THE INNER AND OUTER SURFACES OF TWO PAINT-INLAID BOWLS FROM TOTOATE 



HRDLICKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 397 

two slabs with central circular perforations, and a number of other 
larger worked stones ; a ceremonial, animal-form axe, and a few 
smaller articles. Slight digging was done in one of the conical 
mounds, but nothing was discovered. 

The "temple" was a nearly square structure fifty to sixty feet 
in diameter. The stone walls are still six to ten feet high above the 
ground and on the top nearly six feet thick, built of selected but 
unworked flat stones. No trace of mortar is now visible. The in- 
side of the structure had been intentionally filled with stones. Ap- 
parently the structure was originally a large, low pyramid or base, 
with possibly a wooden superstructure. In the filled area I found 
a large central depression, and near the sides a number of filled, 
crude stone cysts or holes leading downward ; a few fragments of 




^FiG. 12. — Stone slab with a large notch, from the Banco de las Casas ruin. (About 

one-sixth natural size. ) 

human bones were recovered from the only one of these which we 
explored somewhat. Later on I came across an almost identical 
cyst in the stone-filled court of the temple of La Quemada. 

Torreon. — Ocota. — Looking directly west from the Banco de las 
Casas ruins, one sees rising a few miles distant from among the 
flatter elevations an isolated, steep, moderately high cone, locally 
known as the Torreon. The hill can be approached only by a cir- 
cuitous road and with considerable difficulty ; but at its base, on the 
Banco de Zapote, as well as on the top, are found ruins of a large 
pueblo. Not very far from here, to the south, is a ranch called 
Ocota. The character of these ruins is the same as that of those 
already described. 

La Pena. — A little south of Temoaya, and on the east side 
of the river, is a steep eminence, called La Pena, which is acces- 



398 AMERICAN ANTHROFOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

sible only with difficulty. The somewhat saddle-shaped top of 
this hill was apparently a fortification, and there are also well- 
preserved ruins of structures that probably served for religious 
purposes. 

Mesa del Encanto. — Proceeding southward from La Pena one 
soon reaches a place where the river flows through a narrow canon, 
between high and steep granitic walls that reach a particularly great 
height toward the east. Not far below this point, at the base of the 
eastern wall, is a large spring of hot water containing considerable 
sulphureted hydrogen. In the rocks of the neighborhood, and 
farther southward, are a number of caves, in some of which I came 
across chips of obsidian and other traces of Indian occupancy ; none 
of the caves, however, contains structural remains. 

Below the "ojo caliente " the country on both sides of the river 
down to Askeltan contains many more or less isolated mesas, and 
on several of these are found remnants of ancient habitations. In 
at least three of these localities the ruins are of sufficient importance 
to desei-ve separate mention. One of these locations, known as the 
Mesa del Encanto, is an oblong, entirely isolated piece of tableland, 
generally similar to although larger than the central portion at the 
Mesitas. This tableland, which is known also as the Cerro de 
Vonash, is a part of a larger elevation, called the Mesa de las 
Moras, and is situated a little more than three hours' horseback 
journey northwest of Askeltan. 

The entire surface of the Mesa del Encanto is covered with the 
well-preserved foundations of stone structures, of the same general 
character — low, square or oblong, or more rarely rounded — as 
those of the ruins previously described. All these are constructed 
of stones more or less worked. There are three larger ruins, two 
mounds, and a sort of broad, long avenue bounded by very large 
slabs standing on edge. A part of the mesita (where at all acces- 
sible) was apparently fortified with stones. 

Borego. — In nearly the same latitude, but on a mesa east of 
the river and best reached from the town of Monte Escobedo, lies the 
ruin of a large settlement called Borego (a sheep). I did not visit 
these remains, but according to information from a number of per- 
sons they are essentially identical with all the ruins previously de- 



HRDLICKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 399 

scribed, and, like the others, give promise of rich reward for pro- 
longed and careful investigation. 

Ce7'ro de Colotlan. — The ruin known as the Cerro de Colotlan lies 
only about four miles by circuitous roads north-northeast of Askeltan. 
Although not very large, this seems to be one of themost promis- 
ing ruins of the Totoate group for archeologic exploration. 

The main part of the ruin is situated on a small but steep mesa, 
accessible from but one direction, on the right bank of the Rio de 
Bolanos, which at this point makes a sweeping curve. Several 
stone mounds, one of them particularly large, arranged much like 
those at Totoate, are found at the northwestern base of the mesa. 

The ruins on the flat top of the cerro must have served some 
important religious purpose. On the northwest extremity of the 
hill is a large, square patio or court nearly fifty feet in diameter, 
surrounded by a stone wall (three to eleven feet high), or rather 
ruin, for in some parts of it there very probably were rooms which 
are now filled or covered with building stones. Next to this large 
court, on the southern side, is a smaller one, formed on a low stone 
terrace about two feet in height, ascent to which is facilitated by 
three stone steps. A short distance eastward from this is a large, 
low, flat, quadrilateral mound. One or two other separate parts of 
the ruin are seen a little to the eastward of this mound. Through- 
out are found stone structures and foundations similar to those in 
the Banco de las Casas and in other ruins of the Totoate group. 

In the large court a number of interesting antiquities were 
found. Near the middle of the place, in the ground, lies a large, 
ancient, worked and slightly decorated slab of stone. As its surface 
is still fully exposed and on a level with the surrounding surface of 
the court, there is no doubt that the slab has been used or cared for 
by the Tepecanos in recent times. On approaching the stone I was 
warned by my Tepecano companion not to touch it, and especially 
not to remove it, for " anybody who should move it," he said, 
"would die," i. e., would be punished by the gods. 

Near this slab lay a smaller hewn slab, two others with petro- 
glyphs, two damaged stone idols, and several pieces of similar figures. 
None of these objects seemed to have been used recently, and, 
judging by the weathering, all indicate ancient origin. Some parts 



400 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

of the petroglyphs are now quite indistinct, but enough is left to 
show workmanship generally similar although slightly inferior to 
that at Totoate. On each slab is a distinct coil figure, such as, 
with more or less variation, is common at Totoate. The two idols, 
each almost a foot and a half in height, are each made of a single 
piece of hard stone and consists of a hewn pedestal, a neat, deep 
groove around above this, and a somewhat crude recumbent fig- 
ure of a mountain lion on the top. The details of the figurines 
are better than their general form. The mouth is large, while 
somewhat conventionalized teeth are exposed all around. Unfor- 
tunately the head and the mouth of the figures are the parts most 
damaged. The fragments referred to are those of one or two other 
stone lions. It is of interest to note that on the Cerro de la Liona, 
situated a little south of Askeltan and affording an imposing view 
from the Cerro de Colotlan, the Tepecanos (judging from the de- 
scriptions given us) up to this day keep and venerate two appar- 
ently similar lion images of stone. We made a laborious excur- 
sion to obtain or at least to see these figures, but as my inquiries 
about them had alarmed the Tepecanos, we found, on reaching the 
summit of the Cerro de la Liona, only an empty court with traces 
where the idols had stood. 

On the highest part of the eastern wall of the large court, in a 
circular depression of moderate size, is a small, crude Tepecano 
shrine in which these* Indians still place their cJiimdlcs or prayer- 
sticks. 

On the extensive, low, flat mound lay a number of nicely hewn 
stone slabs, varying in length up to three feet and of slightly less 
width. Their use is not apparent. 

The Cerro de Colotlan ruin is the most southerly one of the 
Totoate group in the valley of the Rio de Bolanos. A little to the 
south is Askeltan, where there are some recent but apparently 
no ancient ruins. South of Askeltan, to Bolanos, the countiy is 
very rough, and I could obtain no information of any important 
ancient settlements within it ; however, this region, as well as the 
valley south of Bolanos, seems well worthy of exploration. I 
have heard of ruins and even a graded pyramid near Tule, south 
and a little west of Askeltan ; and the ruin known as Orcon, to 



AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 



N. S., VOL. 5, PL. XLI 




T V 



OBJECTS FROM THE TOTOATE GROUP OF RUINS, FROM THE TEPECANOS, AND 
FROM NEAR PUEBLO VIEJO 

Figs. 1-5, Shell nose-oin;imcnls from the Totoate ruins ; Fig. 7, A string of wampum from thu Tepeca- 
nos ; Fig. 8, A wooden figure, used by the Tepecanos in " sorcery ; " Figs 0-12, Lithomage fetishes, ob- 
tained from the Tepecanos ; Fig. 13, Piec of a human skull from an ancient burial near Pueblo Viejo, 
southern Zacatecas, showing a double, anirul.il, proliahly post-mortem perforation 



HRDi.icKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 4OI 

the southeast of Askeltan, is less than a day's travel from the latter 
pueblo. 

The usual lack of means and time, my unfitness for this class of 
work, and the existing Mexican laws — under which there is no re- 
straint to destruction, but a stern prohibition against taking any- 
thing away, even though purely for the benefit of science — all 
obliged me to make but flying visits where days and weeks of 
arduous labor should profitably be spent. Consequently, I am able 
to give only brief notes instead of such an exhaustive account as 
would, owing to the richness of the field, be of considerable value 
to Mexican archeology. 

Yet even from the little I was able to do it is plain that the 
region through which flows the Rio de Bolanos, between the towns of 
Mezquitic and Bolanos and very probably farther southward, was 
in some forgotten, though probably not very ancient time, the center 
of a considerable population ; and the remnants of the works of this 
people, and especially the objects recovered, speak in many ways of 
a high degree of culture peculiarly its own. If there were any sub- 
sequent '' barbaros''' here, such as the Spaniards described, they left 
no visible traces. I hope to be able to throw more light on the 
people when my physical studies are completed, as well as by the 
detailed description of the specimens to be published later ; but it 
may be stated here that my further researches tend to identify the 
Totoate group of people with that great population which occupied, 
up to the Spanish conquest, the whole of northern Jalisco and 
southern Zacatecas, of which the great fortress of La Quemada was 
once the northernmost bulwark, facing the country from which de- 
scended the waves of Tepehuane and possibly other invasions. 

I wish here to acknowledge the valuable services rendered me, 
In connection with all my work in this region, by Don Cruz Vazquez 
del Mercado and by Senores Vicente Medrano and Genaro Santi- 
banez, of Mezquitic, Jalisco. 

THE TEPECANOS 

Previous Knowledge of the Tribe. — The Tepecano Indians (plate 
XLii), the remnant of whom lives in northern Jalisco, is one of the least 

AM. ANTH., N. S,, 5 — 26. 



402 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

known native tribes of Mexico, whether considered historically or 
in the light of present knowledge.^ The present causes of this lack 
of knowledge are the smallness of the tribe, the distance of the 
region occupied by it from any considerable white settlement, and 
the very rough character of the country and its approaches. In 
addition to this the Tepecanos are feared by their superstitious 
white neighbors, partly on account of a supposed ferocity and partly 
for their "witchcraft," which hinders free intercourse and prevents 
the acquisition of much information concerning them. Even from 
their nearest neighbors one learns more imaginaiy tales and reports 
about the tribe than actual information. 

Historical references to the Tepecanos are very meager. The 
entire region from the river Tololotlan (Rio Grande) in the south 
to the town of Jerez in the north, a territory which in all proba- 
bility embraced the early home of the Tepecanos, was included in 
what is known as the " conquest of New Galicia." The initial 
reduction of this province to Spanish power was accompHshed in 
1530 by Ofiate and Chirinos, two of the captains of Nuno de Guz- 
man. The indefinite records of tjiis conquest, which are particu- 
larly poor in allusions to distinct peoples, contain no direct refer- 
ence to the Tepecanos or to their country. 

When the tribe of Tepecanos is mentioned by the earlier writers ^ 
it is considered as a branch of the " Chichimecan " family. Thus 
the only reference by Bancroft to this people is found among his 
notes on the " Chichimecos." A direct reference to the tribe is 
found in Orozco y Berra.^ According to this author (p. 279), 
" The Franciscan friars assure us in their narrations that the 
monasteries which they founded at Colotlan, Nostic, and Chimal- 
titlan were situated in the regions belonging to the family of Teules- 
Chichimecos, who used a special language called Tepecanos And 
again (pp. 284-285) : " But the same Teules-Chichimecos were sub- 
divided into fractions, with particular idioms. The first family were 

1 The name is probably derived from the Nahua, in which hinguage there are 
several terms from which such a derivation would be possible, as tepetl, ' hill or mountain ' ; 
aco, 'above,' on the top of ; iacath, 'point' ; and there may be others. The Tepe- 
canos call themselves also Hu-ma-kam or Hu-mat-kam, the meaning of which is close to 
* the ones,' * the people.' 

"^Native Races of the Pacific States, vol. I, pp. 617-644 ; direct reference, p. 628. 
See also vol. v, p. 347 et seq ; reference to Herrera. 

" Gcografia de las Leiigiias, 1864, pp. 279, 2S4-2S5. 



HRDLicKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 403 

the Cazcanes, who occupied the region above (or from) the Rio 
Grande, and their neighbors were the Tecuexes and the Tepecanos." ^ 

Orozco y Berra, usually so well informed, considered the Tepe- 
cano language to be extinct ; but on his map he allots to the tribe 
an extensive territory, much larger than it occupies today or has 
occupied within the memory of its oldest men. 

In 1826 Capt. G. T. Lyon crossed from Zacatecas to Bolafios 
and gave an account of his journey^ without referring to the Tepe- 
canos. 

Of modern students of Mexican ethnology or archeology only 
Lumholtz has approached the Tepecanos ; he came within a day's 
journey of Askeltan, met a few of the Indians, and collected a few 
words of their language. Dr Nicolas Leon, of the City of Mexico, 
published in 1902, through my incentive, a brief vocabulary of the 
Tepecano language, obtained through a padre from one of the 
nearby Mexican settlements. But the tribe, as well as the whole 
valley of the Rio de Bolafios, is, with the exception of the work 
here referred to, a virgin field for anthropology. 

Present Location. — Today the Tepecanos are confined to the 
pueblo of Askeltan ^ and to not exceeding one hundred and fifty 
square miles of the valley of the Rio de Bolafios and the adjacent 
mountains. The nearest white or other Indian settlements, of any 
moment, to the Tepecano country are Nostic on the north, Sta 
Catarina and San Sebastian (Huichol) on the west, Huilacaltitlan 
(few Tepecanos) and especially Bolafios on the south, Temastian 
(descendants of introduced Tlaxcaltecs), and, farther on, Totatiche 
on the southeast to east. 

Dwellings. — The pueblo of Askeltan consists of about forty 
dwellings, some of which are clustered on a low, rather unattractive 
hill or point, two-thirds of which are surrounded by the river, while 
others are scattered along the river itself The village contains a 

1 " Mas los mismos teules chichimecos se subdividian en fracciones, con idiomas par- 
ticulares. La primera familia que se presenta es la de los cazcanes, occupada el terrene 
desde el Rio Grande confinando con los tecuexes y los tepecanos." 

2 Lyon, Journal, London, 1828. 

3 Nahua azcatl, ' ants ' ; tlan, ' near, ' ' near-by, ' ' place of, ' containing many. The 
name appears as Azcatlan in the text and on the map of Jalisco by A. Garcia Cubas in 
his Atlas Metodico para la ensenada de la geograjia de la Republica Mexicana, Mexico, 
1874. 



404 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

small, old, Spanish-built church, and in general has a sort of semi- 
civilized appearance ; this was further enhanced during the latter 
part of 1902 by the Tepecanos permitting a Mexican trader to 
settle in their pueblo for the first time in its history. 

The dwellings of the Indians, where not modified by Spanish 
usages, consist of one or two rather small, low structures, built 
from irregular, unworked stones, with or without mortar. Occa- 
sionally there is in addition a more or less open shed built from 
boughs. The roofs of the houses are gabled or A-shaped, as are 
those of all the more primitive Indian dwellings in Jalisco, Tepic, 
and Zacatecas. The houses consist of a framework of native bam- 
boo covered with zacatc, or grass. A small separate group of such 
structures is usually surrounded by a rude stone enclosure. These 
dwellings are generally quadrangular, and the ruins of some of 
them are quite indistinguishable from the ancient ruins in that 
region. In the vicinity of the church are a few houses of more 
modern construction. 

Dress. — All the male Tepecanos dress in a loose, collarless 
blouse shirt made of the cheap, unbleached but durable Mexican 
muslin ; and in loose pantaloons of the same material, reaching 
below the calves, but often worn rolled up much higher. The 
head is protected by a home-made straw hat, somewhat of the shape 
of the ordinary Mexican sombrero, but smaller ; on the feet the 
men wear simple rawhide sandals. A few of the men have in addi- 
tion nice home-spun belts or pouches. The women wear a rather 
short muslin shirt, and a muslin or calico skirt, but seldom (except 
when visiting or traveling) any head-covering and apparently never 
any sandals. The little children run about nude or in a long shirt ; 
older children dress like the parents. 

The hair of the men is worn trimmed from three to six inches 
in length, while the women wear their hair in braids down the back. 

There is no tattooing, and ordinarily, at least, no painting. Orna- 
ments are now almost wholly restricted to women and girls, and 
consist of cheap rings, earrings, and beads. 

Population. — The Tepecanos in the Bolanos valley estimate 
their entire number to exceed three hundred. Askeltan, which is 
their headquarters, could hardly accommodate more than about one 



HRDLiCKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 405 

/ 
hundred and fifty inhabitants. A small Tepecano community some 

years ago emigrated from this neighborhood and now live near the 

Rio Santiago (Rio Grande). 

Occupation ; Food. — The tribe subsists almost entirely by agri- 
culture and on the native fruits, such as the pitaya, tuiia, vamu- 
chile, and others. They cultivate maize (which is consumed mainly 
in the form of tortillas, but is also cooked whole), some beans, 
calabashes, and watermelons. For the watermelon they show a 
fondness equal to that of most Indians, and, it may be added, an 
equal disregard for its ripeness before eating. Some of the cactus 
fruits are dried in the sun on stones and preserved in corn-husks. 

The Tepecanos raise some sheep, goats, and cattle, and keep 
chickens ; they also hunt and fish a little. A few of the men 
occasionally conduct a little trade or engage in work for others. 
There are no artisans. 

Ancient Money. — In 1 898 I accidentally came across and finally 
obtained a small string of ancient shell beads, or wampum (plate 
XLi, 7), which the owner declared had still a definite exchange 
value, although they were used very rarely on account of their 
scarcity. 

Organization. — The Tepecanos are practically independent. 
They elect from their midst a " gobernador " and an " alcalde," who 
are nominally subject to the Mexican authorities, but they virtually 
do as they please. There are some indications of a more primitive, 
probably clanship, organization. 

There is no established school, no education ; but several of the 
Tepecanos have learned in the neighboring pueblos more or less of 
reading and writing. 

Religion. — Occasionally a Catholic priest comes to hold a brief 
service in the village church and to baptize or to marry those who 
so desire. The Indians have apparently assimilated some of these 
usages into their own religion, somewhat in the manner that they 
have adopted some Spanish terms into their language ; and so long 
as the visitor keeps within certain bounds he has no difficulty. 
After the padre has departed the Tepecanos resort very largely 
again to their primitive deities and fetishes, which are represented 
by objects of stone or of other material and which are kept carefully 



406 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

hidden in their homes or in caves and sacred spots in the moun- 
tains. I have thoroughly reliable information of two quite large 
crouching lions of stone, with wide mouths showing teeth ;^ a stone 
cat- or leopard-like figure ; and a stone snake, decorated with 
ckaquira (beads). All these figures and two chaquira-decorated 
skulls are kept somewhere on or near the Cerro de la Liona (Lion 
mountain), a little south of Askeltan, and several times each year 
are brought to an artificial patio (court) on the summit of the high 
mountain and there used in certain dances or ceremonies. It is 
probable that these figures are ancient. I myself have obtained 
from the Tepecanos two probably ancient and one modern, small, 
lithomage figures, one representing the sun, one a chicken fetish, 
and the third a god of war ; also a small stone disk with a hole 
in the center and radiating lines on the surface, probably represent- 
ing the sun. (See plate xli, 9-12.) The esteem with which the 
Indians regard all the old objects found in the ruins, and even the 
ruins themselves, is remarkable. 

Twice every year, in the latter half of May and in September 
the Tepecanos give qiLentas to the "great god" and other 
deities, the sun probably being foremost among them. These offer- 
ings consist of several kinds of sticks, to which are attached loose 
cotton, cotton-yarn " badges," feathers or beads, etc., or most often 
several of these objects together. The finished sticks are known 
as chi-md-les, or ki-vd-res. The latter term, I was told, is the proper 
Tepecano one, but the former is heard much more often. (Plate xliii.) 

There are two principal varieties of chimdles, namely, those with 
and those without the " badges." The differences in the two classes, 
as well as the many individual modifications, are, so far as my in- 
formant could tell, more of an esthetic than of a symbolic nature^ 

Two kinds of sticks are used — one thin, looking like a split 
bamboo, from four to ten inches long ; the other of light, white, na- 
tive wood, much more common, is cylindrical, about three-quarters 
of an inch thick and from nine to fourteen inches in length, pointed 
at one end and blunt at the other. 



1 From the latest description obtained, these figures must be similar to those of which 
I found the remnants in the ruins on the Cerro de Colotlan, a few miles north or Askeltan^ 
above described. 



HRDLICKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 407 

The cotton used is a native variety and is cultivated by the Tepe- 
canos for ceremonial uses only. It is used loose and made up into 
a moderately thin yarn. The loose cotton is wrapped about the 
chimdle stick, or about the ends of the ribs of the badges, or hung 
on the stick in tufts or in the form of pendants. It represents 
clouds and is used particularly on the May chimdles as a prayer 
offering for " good " clouds and water. ; 

The badges vary in size, some being over five inches in diameter. 
They are generally plain white, but sometimes they are colored in 
two tints, pale blue and red being mostly employed. The col- 
ored and white yarn, where the two are employed, alternate in 
bands, when there are no other figures. In shape most of the badges 
are hexagonal ; others are diamond-shaped, and in one instance I 
found a cylindrical one. Although I questioned the Tepecanos on 
this point a number of times (and I had the same experience among 
the Huichols), I was unable to learn that these badges had any 
significance other than that they are "nice" and "agreeable" to 
the deities. 

The feathers are mostly, although not exclusively, those of a 
species of hawk ; they may be used singly or in bunches, fastened 
to the top of a stick and pointing upward, or hanging as pendants. 
The beads fastened to the chimdles represent money and form a 
figurative tribute to the deity. The most valued beads are those of 
shell, found in the old ruins, but glass beads also are used. Oc- 
casionally a diminutive bow and arrows are attached to the chimdle 
as pendants.^ 

The Tepecanos have several definite spots where, from season 
to season, they deposit their chimdles by sticking the sharp edges into 
the ground. One of these shrines, to which an Indian led me and 
whence came the chimdles here illustrated (plate xliii) as well as a 



1 The Tepecano chimdles differ from those of the nearby Huichols in a number of 
particulars. They are mostly of larger size ; the thick stick is not used by the Huichols ; 
the use of cotton and especially of cotton-yarn badges is almost restricted to the Tepe- 
canos ; the shape of the badges among the Tepecanos is much more frequently hexagonal 
than among the Huichols, who generally make the diamond-shaped ones ; the Huichol 
badges are rarely if ever plain white, those of the Tepecanos quite often ; the beads are 
much more common in Tepecano badges ; and, finally, among the Huichols the use of the 
badges is much more extended than it is among the Tepecanos. 



408 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

number of others in the American Museum, is a small, artificial 
structure of stone, partly covered but open eastward, con- 
structed on the top of the main portion of the wall of the large /^//^ 
in the ruin of the Cerro de Colotlan, a few miles north of Askeltan. 
It seems that each such depository belongs to a certain group of 
individuals. Here the men come after the middle of each May and 
deposit their chimdles, each man his own and separately, with prayers 
for abundant water (on which their crops depend), but only " pure " 
water, and for freedom from tempests, disease, and other malevolent 
things. The cotton and badges and pendants are conceived as rep- 
resentatives or messengers of this prayer ; the feathers symbolize 
the desired swift flight of the prayer, while the beads are an expres- 
sion of a consciousness of indebtedness and a figurative tribute. 
This much could I gather from the discourses of my informant. 
During September (any part of the month, the end of the rainy 
season) and before the harvest fiesta, new chimdles are made, 
and each individual, again the men only, passes the prepared sticks 
in a certain way around the head and body for " purification," then 
gives thanks to the deities and deposits his chimdle. At times the 
chividle is used for supplications other than those here mentioned, 
and even in sorcery. Gourds, to which beads and cotton are 
pasted, are also deposited as offerings at the same places as the 
chimdles. 

Sorcery. — The Mexican neighbors of the Tepecanos greatly 
fear the latter on account of their supposed powers in sorcery. On 
one occasion I met two individuals each of whom knew of some 
" idols " of the tribe, but both refused all offers to lead me to the 
locaHty for fear the Tepecanos would revenge themselves by causing 
the right arm of the informant to wither. Eventually, on my last 
expedition, Don Nicolas, an exceptionally honest and intelligent 
ranchman who knows the Tepecanos better than any of their other 
neighbors (a part of his ranch being situated very near Askeltan), 
brought to me a wooden figure (plate xli, 8) found in a cave where 
it had been deposited by one of the Indian sorcerers. This figure, I 
was assured, was a faithful representation of a certain Mexican who, 
some time before, did some injustice to the Tepecanos. One of the 
sorcerers of the tribe made the figure, affixed it to a plumed stick 



HRDLiCKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 409 

or cliimdle, and deposited it in the cave from which it was later 
taken. The Mexican was soon afterward taken sick ; but another 
Tepecano told of the figure, and as soon as this had been torn 
from the stick and removed from the cave the man rapidly recovered. 

The harm-belief need not of course be considered ; but what is 
of particular interest is the fact (of which, after all I heard on the sub- 
ject and with the wooden image in my hand, there can not be much 
doubt) that the Tepecanos actually practise some "witchcraft" cere- 
mony. This is probably a form of prayer which, like every other 
more important prayer, is represented by a prayer-stick and other 
object and deposited in one of the sacred shrines. 

Traditions. — Among the Tepecanos there is one old man, 
highly regarded by all, for whom, on account of his wisdom and 
general behavior, I could think of no more fitting term than " Nes- 
tor " ; and, curiously enough, he has been known to the others, ever 
since my first visit, as Nestor Aguilar. (He is the oldest man in the 
group of Tepecanos in plate xlii.) According to this sage, — and 
he talked in the assembly and with the expressed approval of a 
number of the other men, — the Tepecanos came a long time ago 
" from the north, from a Rio Colorado} and were of the same people 
as the barbaros there. Those of Nostic were originally Tepecanos, 
but later became mixed with other people and talked their ' lengua 
Mexicana.' ^ The Tepecanos extended to the Borego and Mesitas 
[both now apparently ancient ruins] . The Borego settlement was 
very old. Askeltan, Temastian, Acapulco, Huila (Huilacatlan), 
Santa Catarina, and Nostic were once occupied by branches of the 
same nation, who were originally a part of the Mecos? The bar- 



1 As I found later there is a river of this name near the northwestern boundary of 
Durango and Chihuahua. In a part of its valley lived (and a few^ remnants still live) the 
northern Tepehuanes. 

'^Lengua Mexicana among the natives invariably means the Nahua or "Aztec" 
language ; the Spanish is known only as the ' ' Castellano. ' ' On my last expedition to 
the region I found two old men, apparently pure-blood survivors of the early Indian 
inhabitants of the country, one in Nostic and one in Huejucar (a day's journey north- 
eastward), both of whom informed me that their forefathers spoke the " Mexicano." 
I should add that all the native names in this section are Nahuan. 

3 This was mentioned by Nestor in 1898. In May, 1902, while revisiting Santa 
Catarina, which, so far as our knowledge goes, was a pure Huichol pueblo, I came 
across a number of old petroglyphs, such as are found in the ruins a little north of Askel- 



4IO AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

bm-os made war on the Tepecanos, but were repulsed. Then 
those of the Borego warred with those of Askeltan. It is long 
since this war took place, but it was after the white men came. 
The cause of it was a miraculous image of San Lorenzo which 
both villages claimed. Askeltan was then for a time called San 
Lorenzo. The pueblo received the name of Askeltan, from askelcs, 
'ants,' on account of the many people who lived there — as many 
as ants. The Tepecanos were themselves once barbaros after 
coming from the north." 

A good deal more is known by the old man and by other Tepe- 
canos, but it is rather dangerous ground to tread upon and should 
be left to students better qualified for such a line of investigation. 

Social Cttstoins. — No marriage is allowed until after puberty. 
The husband not infrequently takes two wives, but a woman has 
never two husbands. There is a little marital infelicity and some 
irregular prostitution. 

The Tepecanos denied the occurrence of suicide in their tribe. 
They hurt or even kill each other occasionally, but only when 
made drunk by sotol or tequila. Transgressions are usually of a 
minor character and the punishment is either incarceration or lash- 
ing. A murderer, if caught, is delivered to the Mexican authorities. 

In the last century, during periods of disturbance, several of the 
men became highwaymen and were killed by the Mexicans. 

The dead were formerly buried in caves, but now many remains 
are interred in an old as well as in a new cemetery at Askeltan. 

Intellectual Qualities. — After one has gained the confidence of 
the Tepecanos and they recognize in him a friend, and particularly 
one who does not deceive them, they become pleasant, display keen 
intelligence, and even become close companions ; under these con- 
ditions they are in every way preferable to the ordinary Mexicans. 
But to reach such a stage of acquaintance and to retain the con- 
fidence of the Tepecano (owing, no doubt, to the usual experience 
of the Indians with whites) is quite a difficult matter, as may be seen 
from the following : 



tan, for which the Huichols could offer no explanation except that they were made by 
"other people." The term mecos is well known to the Tepecanos and to other natives 
in that part of Jalisco and in southern Zacatecas. 



hrdlicka] the ancient CHICHIMEC REGION 4II 

I made, in all, three brief visits to the Tepecanos, one in 1898 
and two in 1902 ; and as every one warned me of the suspicious 
nature of the people, I chose but a single guide and companion, Sr 
Cruz Velasquez. 

On reaching Askeltan, in the first week of May, 1898, we found 
the town almost deserted, most of the inhabitants having gone to 
the sierra to pick the ripening pitayas. We saw a few women 
from afar, but, on perceiving us, these immediately sought seclusion, 
so that aside from a female patient to whom I was brought later, I 
did not see on this first visit, which occupied two days, a single 
woman make her appearance. The few male inhabitants, whom we 
found after some search, received us with much reserve and ap- 
parent distrust of our intentions, which we did not succeed in over- 
coming for many hours. We were conducted to the gobernador, or 
head of the village, who, after receiving some gifts, gave us one of 
his huts for shelter. 

As an illustration of the distrust which the Indians felt toward 
us, I may mention that for more than half a day we were unable to 
buy, in the entire village, even with the aid of our host, a single goat, 
sheep, chicken, or ^%^, although there was no scarcity of such things 
in the settlement, and indeed we were thus restricted in our purchases 
of the necessaries of life even after promising to make a general feast 
with the things bought. Gradually, however, the distrust gave way 
to kinder feehngs. The people learned that I was a physician, and 
some called me to see the wife of one of the men who was very ill 
with malaria. Later the husband of the patient brought us as a gift a 
gourd full of fine tunas (cactus fruit), and all became more friendly. 
Finally, when evening came, the house and the yard were filled 
with visitors, and the latter part of the evening and the following day 
were spent in complete confidence with all those who were in the 
village — the women, however, still remained in hiding. The 
Indians, some of whom were brought from the nearer mountains 
by their friends, surrounded us at all hours, and I was able to 
measure them and to make inquiries at pleasure. They even prom- 
ised me two skulls which they kept in the village for certain of their 
ceremonies, but during the night these were spirited away to the 
mountains. 



412 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

My second visit, in the spring of 1902, was very pleasant and 
profitable. I was enabled to record more physical data and also to 
make photographs ; but the women, although they did not run away 
nor hide, still remained sufficiently distrustful to prevent me from 
measuring or photographing them. On my third visit (toward the 
close of 1902) the mere repetition of my visits and some photographs 
of individuals of the tribe which I brought with me, aroused new 
suspicions ; all of which shows the care necessary in dealing with 
such people and indirectly reflects anything but credit on their 
past relations with the whites. 

Medical and Physiological. — Information on these subjects, ex- 
cept where they bore on certain ceremonies, was given by the 
Tepecanos without hesitation. 

The tribe, according to the information obtained, increases but 
little, if any, on account of the high death-rate. The most frequent 
causes of death among the adults are "fever" (in all probability 
typhoid), calentura, dysentery, and "a chest disease of short dura- 
tion accompanied with pain and fever " (probably pneumonia). 
Calentura is quite prevalent.^ The mortality of children is large, 
and is due chiefly to intestinal disorders, often caused by eating 
unripe melons and other fruits. Calentura is also frequently fatal 
among children. 

Smallpox has appeared occasionally and its ravages caused 
numerous deaths. 

A certain percentage of women die as a result of accident or 
from disease while pregnant, or at or shortly after childbirth. 

The most common minor affections among the Tepecanos are 
pains in the joints (rheumatism ?), headaches, some vertigo (the 
latter two mainly the effect of drinking to excess, which is not 
frequent, or of calentura), and conjunctivitis. Tumors occur occa- 



1 Calentura is a form of malaria, usually with frequent attacks. The disease is com- 
mon among other Mexican tribes and attacks also the whites. It is usually a chronic 
disease, against which the Indians employ the palo amargo (native quinia) and other 
herbs, but not always with success. The patients become very debilitated and are obliged 
to keep to bed. Ansemia and emaciation follow, and may result in death. In most 
cases, however, restoration to health, after the sixth or eighth week of the malady I was 
told, slowly takes place. The disease attacks people of all ages and may recur in tht 
same patient. 



HRDLiCKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 413 

sionally. Insanity is very rare and is believed by the natives to be 
incurable. 

The materia medica of the Tepecanos consists of many herbs, 
and, when these fail, of certain ceremonies. The herbs most com- 
monly used are palo antargo (native cinchona), herba de San 
Antonio, and oak-leaves, for calentura ; palo mulato, mainly for 
pains ; hi-ku-li (obtained from the Huichols), vej^vena, rosa de 
castilla, the root of ko-ho-te, the seed of ci-ci-va, etc. 

There is no higher degree of surgery, but the Tepecanos can well 
take care of broken limbs. 

If a patient does not improve, the medicine-man is called. 
When he comes the patient lies down ; the medicine-man prays 
and talks to the winds and spirits ; then he lights a cigarette, 
draws in the smoke, and applies his mouth to the painful part of 
the body, which he bites a little or sucks, then puffs the smoke 
away from the patient, and spits into his own hands. With the 
saliva comes usually some small object, — a cactus spine, a little 
stone, or the like, — which the medicine-man either breaks up in his 
palm or throws into the fire. He then throws away the saliva. 
Occasionally the medicine-man gives also some remedy internally ; 
but his prayers and touches, especially with the fingers moistened 
with saliva, and the exercises of his magic power are the essentials. 

Conception generally follows very soon after marriage. Most 
women have four to six children, but there are some who have given 
birth to ten or even twelve. Only a few women are naturally sterile ; 
others, I was assured, induce artificial sterility by means of herbs. 
Artificial abortion, also by means of herbs, I was told is not very 
rare. 

The period of gestation lasts, according to the Tepecanos, nine 
months with a boy, but only seven or eight months with a girl. 
The mother has no means of guessing the sex of the child before 
parturition. The period of gestation is reckoned from the last 
menstruation. There are women who give birth to a child every 
year, and there are many who become pregnant before the last child 
is weaned. 

Infants are suckled generally up to two years of age, though in 
not a few instances considerably later ; but in addition they partake 



414 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

also of all the kinds of food which the mother eats as soon as they 
can masticate a little. As among all Indians, the health of the child 
is often sacrificed through the desire of fully satisfying its appetite, 
and whatever the degree of medical skill in the tribe, there is, in- 
_ explicably, no knowledge or practice of prevention. 

Children walk when about one year of age ; they do not begin 
to talk before eighteen months or two years. The Indian mother 
does not stimulate the talking of her child as the white mother 
does. Before walking the Tepecano children crawl like white chil- 
dren, or even run a little on all fours. ^ The first dentition occurs 
most frequently in the latter part of the first year, in a minority of 
cases at about six months. 

The occasional mother who " has no milk " nourishes her infant 
on the milk of goats or cows. 

Parturition is generally accomplished with the aid of one or 
more related or friendly older women. There are no professional 
midwives, and the woman in childbirth is not secluded from her 
family or friends. 

The average labor occupies about twelve hours. The woman 
is usually delivered squatting on her knees and toes, or on knees and 
toes and hands, with the lower limbs separated. In difficult labor 
the husband or brother will encircle her abdomen from behind with 
his arms and try to expel the child by pressure, which is continued 
without intermission as long as the man or the woman can stand 
it. If this heroic treatment does not accomplish the purpose, the 
medicine-man is called, and he proceeds with the woman much as 
with any other patient, but gives her at the same time a decoction 
of licrba hicna or rosa de castilla. 

The new-born begins to suckle usually within two hours after 
birth. The infant is washed at once with luke-warm water, but the 
mother is not thoroughly cleansed until after four days. Women 
often have " fever " after confinement, which sometimes results in 
death. The abdomen of the mother is bandaged with the ordinar}' 
Ti\2S\'?,faja? After confinement the woman is urged to remain abed 

• I have seen this on several occasions among the Mexican Indians as well as among 
the Indians of southern United States. 

2 A woolen belt, ordinarily two or three inches in width and from two to four yards 
long. 



HRDLiCKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 415 

as long as possible, and she generally stays indoors eight to fifteen 
or even thirty days. 

Meal times and food are not so regular as among the whites ; 
this, however, is the rule among all Indians. Intoxicating drinks, 
as with other Indians, have a rapid and, in the beginning, generally 
exhilarating effect. Tobacco is used very moderately. As all In- 
dians, the Tepecanos are good travelers. In pacing, two steps (from 
one mark of one foot tothe next mark of the same) are counted as one. 
Both the men and the women are good although not steady workers. 

Physical Characteristics. — However interesting the Tepecanos 
may be ethnologically, they are even more so from the point of 
view of physical anthropology. They are the shortest in stature 
and the most brachycephalic of all the Mexican tribes north of lati- 
tude 21°. They show quite close physical relation with the Tepe- 
huanes, Huichols, Coras, southern Jalisco (Tuxpan) Nahuas, and 
Opatas, but this relation does not amount to tribal identity. My 
investigations afford reason for the belief that all of these people, 
as well as those now wholly or nearly extinct throughout Jalisco, a 
large part of southern Zacatecas, much of Durango, at least parts 
of Sinaloa and Sonora, and many now scattered over even a much 
wider radius, descended from one physical souclie or type ; but this 
subject will be more appropriately treated in another place. 

The physical appearance of the Tepecanos, aided by but not 
wholly due to their costume, is such that many of them can be 
quite easily distinguished from the Huichols ; yet there are among 
the Huichols, as well as among the other tribes above mentioned, not 
a few individuals who, if met near Askeltan, would be taken for 
typical Tepecanos. 

Almost all the Askeltan natives appear short and rather thick- 
set. The color of the skin is generally a medium brown, not far 
from the ordinary mulatto tint, but with a slightly greater tinge of 
red than of yellow. The women are not lighter than the men, and 
some of them, as shown by their bare arms and the upper part of 
the chest, have the identical, fine, slightly reddish-brown common 
among pure blood Indians of the United States. The hair, as in 
other Indians, is of the same color as the black mane of a horse, 
The eyes are dark brown, hazy, conjuctivse yellowish. 



4l6 AAIERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

The heads of the Tepecanos are generally rather large, rounded, 
regular, and free from artificial or other deformity. The face is usually 
quite broad and seldom handsome, but it increases in interest or 
pleasantness with animation. The forehead is generally of good 
height and breadth, occasionally sloping backward in its upper half. 
The malar bones are large, but not excessive. In men the nose is 
quite short and broad, but not low or thick as in the negro ; it is of 
moderate dimensions and of a nicer form in the women. The lower 
part of the face is generally strong. There is little, if any, facial 
but more of alveolar prognathism. The supraorbital ridges are well 
marked and in some individuals are large. The eyeslits are nearly 
as straight as in the whites to slightly oblique. The bridge of the 
nose is usually moderately convex ; the point is generally blunt and 
thick, and frequently, especially in the older ones, overhangs some- 
what the nasal septum and the borders of the nasal openings (pen- 
dant point) ; or the whole septum shows a descending inclination. 
The mouth is large. In the majority of cases the lips are slightly 
thicker than those of whites, but never like those of negroes. The 
chin is rather broad and of medium prominence, never receding. 
Both the upper lip and the chin in men are covered with straight, 
rare, rather coarse, black hair, from two to five centimeters in 
length. As among Indians generally, no beard grows on the 
sides of the cheeks. The teeth are well developed and regular. 
The ears are of medium size and well formed, but the lobules are 
in some cases attached. The body is generally regular and strong, 
the chest well developed and rather deep at the base. The hands and 
feet of the Tepecano men are well formed, somewhat short, not 
large. The toes gradually recede in size from the first. The legs 
are of almost the medium dimensions of those of whites, not so 
small as among other Indian tribes. 

Without entering into further detail in this place, I append three 
brief tables which illustrate certain of the physical characters of 
the Tepecanos compared with those of several other tribes of 
northern Mexico. The relation of all these is obviously very 
close. The Tepehuanes as well as the Opatas show a larger pro- 
portion of mesocephaly, which is probably due to admixture with 
their neighbors, the meso- to dolicho-cephalic Tarahumares. It is 



hrdlicka] 



THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 



417 



quite possible that the Tepecanos were originally but a part of the 
once great Tepehuane tribe and that their name is but a slight per- 
version of the term " Tepehuano." 



Physical Characters of the Tepecanos Compared with Those of Other 
Tribes of Northern Mexico 

STATURE 





TEPECANOS 
(25) 


SOUTHERN 

TEPEHUANES 

(40) 


HUICHOLS 
(30) 


CORAS 

(53) 


SO. JALISCO 
NAHUAS 

(SO) 


OPATAS, 
SONORA 
(31) 


153-155 


12.0% 


I0 


3-3% 


1-9% 


% 


% 


155-160 


36.0 


17-5 


16.7 


13.2 


12.0 


22.6 


160-165 


40.0 


30.0 


36.7 


35.8 


46.0 


19.4 


165-170 


12.0 


42.5 


36.7 


37-7 


32.0 


29.0 


170-175 




5-0 


6.7 


II-3 


6.0 


i6.i 


175-180 




2-5 




1.9 


2.0 


16.1 


180-185 




2-5 











CEPHALIC INDEX, UNDEFORMED HEADS 





TEPECANOS 
(25) 


SOUTHERN 

TEPEHUANES 

(40) 


HUICHOLS 
(30) 


CORAS 

(53) 


so. JALISCO 

NAHUAS 
(50) 


OPATAS, 

SONORA 

(31) 


Below 75. 


I0 


2.5% 


3-3% 


2.0% 


10.0% 


6.4% 


75-76 






6.7 


2.0 




3-2 


76-77 




22.5 


■hZ 


8.0 


8.0 


6.4 


77-78 


8.0 


5-0 


z-z 


6.0 


8.0 


19-3 


78-79 




20.0 


6.7 


8.0 


6.0 


10. 


79-80 


8.0 


7-5 


6.7 


14.0 


14.0 


13.0 


80-81 


12.0 


7-5 


13.3 


14.0 


14 


13.0 


81-82 


4.0 


2-5 


13.3 


16.0 


lO.O 


lO.O 


82-83 


4.0 


12.5 


6.7 


8.0 


6.0 


13.0 


83-84 


28.0 


lO.O 


10. 


6.0 


14.0 




84-85 


16.0 


lO.O 


133 




4.0 


6.4 


85-86 






l-Z 


2.0 


4.0 




86-87 


4.0 




lO.O 


2.0 


2.0 




87-88 








4.0 






88-89 


4.0 












89—90 


4.0 













AM. ANTH., N. S., 5 — 27. 



4i8 



AMERICAN ANTHR OPOL GIST 



[N. s., 5, 1903 



NASAL INDEX 



TEPECANOS 
(27) 


SOUTHERN 
TEPEHUANES 


HUICHOLS 


CORAS 


SO. JALISCO 
NAHUAS 


OPATAS, 
SONORA 


Average 83.6 


^Z-2> 


82.2 


83-3 


81.8 


81. I 



There remains the question whether the immediate ancestors of 
the Tepecanos dwelt at Totoate, Torreon, etc. This question 
physical anthropology can answer only so far as to assert that they 
are of the same type of people ; but whether they are of the same 
tribe can be determined, if at all, only by archeologic and ethno- 
logic research. 

The Language of the Tepecanos 

The majority of the people, particularly the women, know but 
little Spanish ; among themselves they employ the Tepecano dialect. 
The language sounds more pleasant than do some other Indian 
languages. It is quite easy to follow and reproduce the sounds 
and to distinguish many of the words. There are no harsh con- 
structions and no unpleasant or unusual inflections of the voice ; the 
pronunciation, however, differs slightly with different persons. I 
append to these notes a brief vocabulary and some phrases and 
sentences collected by me during intervals in my somatological 
work ; and I give also for comparison a few words obtained later 
among the southern Tepehuanes of the district of Santa Maria de 
Ocotan, Durango. The terms were obtained in both cases from a 
group of men, which is safer than similar information from any 
single individual ; they were also repeated by me to the men and 
only when easily understood were allowed to stand. 

There is no doubt that a good linguist, in a reasonable time 
and without much expense, could conduct among this people, as 
among several other ' remnants of north Mexican tribes, a work of 
much value. 

Tepecano Vocabulary and Examples of Speech, with some Equivalents in 
the Southern Tepehuane Dialect^ 

Note. — In recording the Indian language, not being an expert lin- 
guist I found great difficulty in using the English alphabet, so iinally em- 

' The Southern Tepehuane equivalents follow the Tepecano words and are enclosed 
in parentheses. 



hrdlicka] 



THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 



419 



ployed that of ray native language, the Czech, in which I found very 
nearly all the sounds used by the Tepecanos, as well as by other Mexican 
tribes. Most of the sounds of the letters in this alphabet, as well as in 
those of the various Slavonic languages, are identical with the Spanish 
and Latin (continental) sounds, but there are a number of additional 
letters with sounds that represent exactly what is most difficult to repre- 
sent with the English alphabet. In order to avoid all confusion I present 
herewith the exact and unvarying sound of every letter employed. 



THE ALPHABET 



a, as a m man'ow. 

a, as a in mar, garden. 

b, as in ball. 

C, has the sound the nearest ap- 
proach to which in English 
can be expressed by ts or tz ; 
it is found pure in such Latin 
words as tercius ; it is a clear 
elementary sound, not a com- 
bination. 

C, has a softer, moister sound than 
c, and stands intermediate 
between this and ^c ; it, as 
well as ~s, is common in other 
Indian languages, as the 
Hopi. 

C, as ch in cherry. 

d, as in dull, dollar. 

d, or soft d, has a sound the near- 

est approach to which in 
English is probably the com- 
bined sound of the d and / in 
some words with the combi- 
nation of die. 

e, as in bet, tempest. 

e, as e in fete. 

f, as in Faust, fish. 

g, as in gall, get. 
h, as in home, hot. 

ch, as in the German braucheti, 
lachen. 

i, as in lily, boil. 

i, as / in machine. 

j, as in the German language, as 
Jesu ; it is used where in 
English J/ would be employed. 

k, as in kine, peak. 



1, as in lion, tool. 
m, as in inother, boo77i. 

n, as in near, bean. 

n, has a nasal sound somewhat 
similar to ng, as in many 
Chinese words. 

n, as gn in the French mignon, or 
that of ni in pinion. 

0, as in mother, or as u in sun. 

0, as in strong, or as a in ball. 

p, as in peak, heap. 

r, as in i-ain, tear. 

f, is a difficult, soft, vibrating 
sound, the nearest approach 
to which in English can be 
made by the combination 
rz ; yet in the true r, which 
is common to many Indian 
languages, no trace of z or j 
is audible. 

S, as in salt, last. 

§, as sh in she, hush. 

t, as in tear, meat. 

t, is soft / corresponding to the 
soft d. 

U, as ou in Louis. 

Xi, as 00 in tooth. 

V, as in very, weave. 

w, as in English (from which it is 
adopted). 

y, is closely related to i, but has a 
broader sound, as that oi y 
in Styria. 

y, is a prolonged y. 

Z, as in zenith, Zulu. 

Z, as in azure. 



420 



AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 



[N. s., 5, 1903 



Father, ta-ta (hin-cat). 

mother, na-na (hin-nan). 

brother, en-ha-don, ha-dun (hin- 

cls). 
sister, en-ha-don, en-mow-da (hin- 

zi-ko). 
brother of my father ) had-ni-den ta- 
sister of my father J ta-pe. 

Old man, ko-li-gi-ja. 

old woman, o-ki-gi-ja. 

priest [padre'] , om-og [ ' ' head " ] . 

god [one of the gods'], si-do-kam. 

Head, um-ogh [initial u and termi- 
nal gh in all feeble] . 
neck, um-baik-tow. 
chest, um-bas. 
hand, um-nob. 
foot, um-ton. 

finger, um-de-do [from Spanish] . 
fingernail, um-host. 
hair, um-kup. 



NOUNS. 
son, a-li. 



daughter, a-li. 

childreti, ma-ma-li. 

grandfather, ba-ba-li. 

gj-ajidmother, ka-ha-li. 

7nan, ti-ot, ti-on. 

woman, wo-uf. 

brother of my mother | had-ni-den na- 

sister of my mother J na-pe. 

a dead person, is-mug. 
child, ar. 

pretty girl, zap -mas. 
another one [persoti], gu-maj. 

beard, mustache, um-tum-wo. 

eye, um-wuj. 

ear, um-na-nak. 

nose, um-dak. 

lip, um-tun. 

tooth, um-ta-tam. 

tongue, um-nun. 

chill, um-kas. 



Deer, el-suj-mar, ko-kon. 

ma-k.) 
dog, go-gos. 
bird, cu-vit. (u-e.) 
sheep, to-tok. 



(so-I- pig, ek-vi-mar. 
quail, to-so-ru-i. 
chicken, ta-vu-a. 
goose, ha -a. 
cat, mi -so. 



Day, ta-tab, te-si-ma-si. (ta-nok.) 
night, to-ka, t'-ka', te-wa-tok. (to- 

kak.) 
week, humat si-man [probably from 

Spanish semand] . 

Sun, to-nor. (hin-te-hog.) 
moon, mas-za. (ma-san.) 
star, hop-pa. (hu-wag. ) 



mo7ith, hu-mat mas-za. (ma-san.) 
year, hu-mat oj-da. (ma-km. ) 



village, ki-da-or, kl-dagh-ra. 
Askeltan, Ki-dagh-ra.\ 
hat, mo-bar. 



1 The Tepecanos themselves generally use the term Ki-dagh-ra, signifying "village.' 



HRDLICKAJ 



THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 



421 



earth, bi-t-d, oj-da-kam. (den- 

wer. ) 
water, sur-di, tsu-di, sti-di. ha-vti 

[from Sp. aguaf^. (sur-de-i.) 
stone, ho-daj. (hor-da-ji.) 
tree, us. (u-uc. ) 
fire, taj. 

road, voi [from Spanish voy, I go ?] . 
arrow, u-u. 
bow, gat. 
wood, ko-ag. 
house, kl-ta-mi. 
great house, gu-wa-ak. 
roof, wa-ak, wa-ah. 
room, bid- wa-ak. 



muslin pantaloons, hi-na-twaf-kar. 

health, sav-hu-van. 

sky, g-t-wan-gi. 

Inferno, ne-zi§-ko-ok. 

cold, is-tu-cu-pi. 

lightning, hp-tg-wa. 

thunder, ne-o-ki-him. 

darkness, sa-sa-va-ci. 

sickness, kog-da-ra. 

malaria {calentura'), is-to-kok-da. 

the fnountains, hok-km-dam. 

maize, hun. 

tostilla, sa-mit. 

a laborer, dad-ge. 

a word, ni-jok. 



II. PRONOUNS. 



/, a-ne, al-ne, an-te, a-ni. 

thou, a-pe. 

he, she, it, ap-te. 



we, a-tip, te-ti. 

they \inale or female'] , hu-ga. 



III. ADJECTIVES AND NUMERALS. 



Good, e-si-ob, a-me-fi-on. 

better, e-me-fap-toj. 

bad, e-a-nu-ob, ja-map-toj [worse?] 

small, lis-puk. 

great, large, gu-eh. 

stout, fat, sav-lak. 

thin, si-gak-kam. 



White, is-ta-kam. 
blacky es-to-kam. 
yellow, e-sam-kam. 



(s-co-a. ) 
(stuk. ) 

(i-su-vam. ) 



One, u-ma, hu-maj, hu-mat.^ (ma° 
[the terminal n but slightly audi- 
ble].) 

two, gok. (gok. ) 

three, vajk. (vajk.) 



high, tob. 

sweet, es-maj-ka-kam. 
bitter, sl-wu-kam. 
warm, nis-ho-ok. 
much, vi-ja. 

many, muj [probably from the 
Spanish] . 

green, tyr-do-kam. 

blue, e§-tyr-do-kam. (cu-u-da. ) 

red, ez-wuk-kam. (si-wuk.) 

four, ma-ko, ma-ko-ba. (ma-ko.) 
five, es-to-man. (ca-mam, sta- 

mam. ) 
six, sey-uma, siv-hupnaj. (si-hu- 

ma°). 



1 Most of the Tepecanos know the numerals only up to six ; only a few old men know 
them up to ten ; numerals higher than ten could not be obtained at all. 



42 2 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

seven, sil-gok. (siv-gok.) nine, si-mako. (sim-mako. ) 

^^-^i", si-vajk. (siv-bejk, siv-vajk. ) /(?;;, ma-huf. (mam-bus.)^ 

IV. MISCELLANEOUS PARTS OF SPEECH. 
Today, u-wi-mo. (now-slf. ) last yea?-, hm-ak. 

tomorrow, wu-I-mo, as-ta-wi-mo until 



rr, ■ ■, , T / • 1 X f hau-a, maj-ka-va. 

[Spanish /lasta ?] . (wuj-mok.) tip to 

day after tomorrow, aiSt3i-ni3i-si-je-y a., /ar, ko-ra.. (mk. ) 

dog-ma-si-jeva. yes, a-a-a. (hn-do.) 

yesterday, ta-kab, ta-kav. (ta- no, ja-ni. (ca-m, cam-mo.) 

kav. ) what, a-sa-psu-po-haj-da. 

V. VERBS.2 

/go, an-ty-ki-hi, an-te-va-hi. (an- I have, a-ni vi-ja, a-ni ni-vi-ja. 

va-hi. ) he has [or holds'] , si§-ton. 

I am, al-ne. / know, an-te-smat, a-ni-§mat, 
thou [you] art, ape. a-nis-to-mat-ys.^ 

// is, u-is, iiis. thou [you] knowest, a-ne-am-to- 
I say, au-te po-toj. mat-ys, a-pe-mis-to-mat. 

thou [yoti] say est, a-ni po-toj. he [the other one] knows, g-ma- 
he says, ap-te po-toj. jis-to-mat-ys. 

we [nos todos] say, wu-e-sir te-ti we [all] know, wu-e-sir, to-mat-ys. 

po-toj. / want, a-ni, so-§i-mym, a-nis ho- 
I shall say [I shall tell to all], wus chi, a-ni-zak. 

au-te po-toj mu-ha-der. / cut, a-ni-hik-ta. 

I said yesterday, Xz.-\a.\ a.Vi-\.tpo-\.o]. I eat, au-te-va-to-hok. 

I return, an-ti-ba-nor. I hold, sis-to-nom. 

VI. COMPOSITION.* 

One ?nan, hu-maj ti-ot. jnany women, muy wu-wo-uf. 

two men, gok te-ti-ot. many children, muy a-ar. 

many men, muy ga-te-ti-ot. two years, gok oj-da. 
many sons, muy a-la-li. 



1 Higher Tepehuane numerals are : 11, de-wan-ma° ; 12, de-man-gok ; 20, ma"-Op, 
ma°-Om ; 40, gok-om ; 50, gok-om-de-man-bus ; 60, vajk-om ; 100, sta-mam-om. 

2 No infinitive was obtainable. 

'The terminal ys is ordinarily quite mute, and a similar condition is observable in 
other terminals. 

* These parts of speech do not seem to have quite such sharp, definite meanings as 
with us. Some of the versions are undoubtedly not quite literal ; they are equivalents, 
modified by the Indian mode of thought and usages of expression. 



hrdlicka] 



THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 



423 



Greeting on meeting, sav-hu-van 
[health]; en-gan-do sav-hu-van. 

response to same, a-hwa-na-pe, who- 
pa-na-pe. 

How far is it to Askeltan? Ho-sis- 

mo-kor ki-dagh-ra ? 
// is not far, Ja-m-ko-ra. 
It is very far, U-iz muy ko-ra. 



greeting ofi parting, ki-ne-ki an-te- 

va-nor. 
greeting for ^^ good night,'''' a-te-fi- 

hu-ro. 

WJiere are you goiiig ? Pa-pe-c-ki- 
hi? 

/ go to Askelta?i, An-ty-ki-hi ki- 
dagh-ra. 

/ went yesterday, Ta-kav-an-te-ki-hi. 

Where are you going ? Pa-pes-te- 

wa-hi ? 
WJiere did you go ? Pa-mo pe-c-oj- 

ma? 



IVJien are you going? Huyf-kat a 

pso-hy-mi-ja ? 
When will you return ? Huys-kat a 

ps-ha-gu-sija ? 

I shall come tomorrow, Wu-y-mo ne-ha-g-si-ja. 

I shall go tomorrow, An-te-wa-hi as-ta wy-mo. 

You travel very fast \Andas muy apriesaX ') ^ , . . 

.: J .r, \j J -\l Pta-ki-ja m-sim-da. 

You are a good traveler \_b,s muy andador\ \ 

You returned promptly \_Pronto dios la vueltd\, P-je m§-ma-tat oj-ma. 

I shall go to Mezquitic tomorrow, Wu-y-mo ni-chy-mi-ja wl-hok-tam. 

I go to the mountains, A-ni-wa-hi hok-kom-dam. 

I return from the jnountains, An-ti-ba-nor hok-kom-dam-de. 

Tomorrow I go to the sierra, Wu-y-mo hok-kom-dam ho-ni-hin-da. 

I went to the mountains yesterday, Ta-kav-an-ti-hi-mok hok-kom-dam. 

Two f?ien go to the mountains, Gok tot am-hi-mi-ja hok-kom-dam. 

Many tnen go to the sierra, Muy am-hl-mi-ja hok-kom-dam. 

What news is there ? Has-to si§-to There is no news, Nada [Sp.] ni 
mo-yn. ha§-to. 

/ shall tell tomorrow, after I have thought of it [given spontaneously : 
Yo le dire manana, voy apensarme\ , Wu-y-mo eu-pou-van em-tur-de 
ne-kau-te-me-mo. 

All of you know except fnyself [given spontaneously : Ustedes todos saben 
i7ienor yo no se'\, A-pe mis-to-mat a-nem-to-ma-tys. 

J do not want any one [given spon- Bring a stone, Baj-si-bu ho-daj. 

taneously], Jam-ki-ja mem-ki-ho- Make fire, Si-to-nad-taj. 

hi. // is cold, Nis-is-chi-job. 

What is your name? \_Como te He drinks water, l^es-is-to-noxxi tsn- 

llafnesl, He-sa-p so-po-toz? di. 

Come to eat, Baj-to-hok. I live here, A-ne-kid or-ki-jo. 



424 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

I am eating, An-te-wa to-hok. I wajit to marry, Nis-ta-hon-tam. 

Give me, 0-maj. Somebody is dying [Se muere otro\. 
He has malaria, Sis-ton is-to-hok- Te-a-po-mo gu-maj. 

da. / want to sleep, Nis-is-ho-sim ko- 
Juan has much money, Juan muy vi- sam. 

ja vaj-no. I want you much, A-ne-ni-sim ho- 
That man has much money, Muy vi- chi. 

ja vaj-num ti-on. I am a laborer, A-nes-to dad-gi. 

Go take a bath, Maj-kvo-to-a-te-po. Shoot there, A-ni-to-mo-ja. 
Give me a stone, 0-maj ho-daj. 

VII. SONGS. 
A sacred song, of which the Tepecanos would not give a transla- 
tion, follows : 

Hauk ty-ta-vi ka-mi. 
Ci-hajn-du-du ka-mi. 
Ha-va gu-gr te-tu-wa-vo-ta i-po-oj-da-kam. 

The follov^^ing incantation is sung ^' at sol y niobe'' (to the sun 
and cloud) at the commencement of the rainy season. It is usually- 
much longer than given here (with variations and repetitions it may 
last, I was told, upward of two hours), but the construction is 
similar throughout, the first verse being repeated with each suc- 
cessive stanza. Owing to their imperfect Spanish, the Tepecanos 
were not able to give me a literal translation of the song, but 
apparently it is mainly a rejoicing at the coming of the rains on 
which depends the whole sustenance of the people. 

Ha-va-u ' tu-ta-vi ka-ma si-hajn-du 

U te-a-ta we-ve u-tu-ta-ve 

Ha-va g-t-waii-gi [the heavens] oj-da-kam [the earth] . 

Ha-va-u tu-ta-vi ka-ma si-hajn-du 

Ha-va um-a-ran-ghim 

Ha-va te-vag um-tu-tun-ghim. 

Ha-va-u tu-ta-vi ka-ma si-hajn-du 
Ha-va t-wag hp-tg-wa [the lightning]. 



1 Hd-va may be an adaptation from the Spanish agiia, although the present Tepecanos 
beheve it to be a word of their own language. 



HRDLICKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 425 

Ha-va-u tu-ta-vi ka-ma si-hajn-du 
Ha-va vp-gu-ve. 

Ha-va-u tu-ta-vi ka-ma si-hajn-du 
Ha-va ne-o-ki-him [the thunder] , 

Ha-va-u tu-ta-vi ka-ma si-hajn-du 
Ha-va bi-wah wa-u-ta.^ 

Another incantation of the Tepecanos, also sung before or at 

the beginning of the rainy season, and given to me by another man, 

is as follows : 

Ha-va ta-ta ha-li o-li 

ka-ma si-hajn-du, du-ka-ma. 
Ha-va g-tu-wan-gi 

u-tan-a-vi, ojn-da-ka-ma. 
Ha-va tu-va-gi u-ta 

ha-vi o-in-da-ka-ma. 

The idiom, as will easily be seen on comparison, although re- 
lated particularly to the Tepehuane, and also to the Pima and the 
Nahua, presents numerous differences from each of the latter 
tongues. This fact would seem to indicate either an admixture of 
distinct languages or a long separation of people originally speak- 
ing the same dialect. 

EXPLORATIONS IN OTHER PARTS OF NORTHERN JALISCO 
AND IN ZACATECAS 

Tlaxcaltecos . — East of the Tepecanos are the rough mesas and 
barrancas of the district of Colotlan, and here in many spots are 
found traces of an ancient population. After almost a whole day 
of difficult journeying toward the east and slightly south from As- 
keltan one reaches a group of Indian pueblos known as Temastian, 
Azcapotzalco (about three miles east-southeast of Temastian), and 
Santa Rita (about seven miles nearly south of Azcapotzalco). One 
or two of these settlements are probably ancient, but as I learned 
from carefully preserved records, they were all peopled, in the early 
part of the eighteenth century, by Tlaxcaltecs, who were introduced 
by the Spaniards for defense against the " Chichimecos." Thus, in 

^ ' ' The water will now come from the sky. ' ' 



426 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

the three villages there are examples, persisting with their intro- 
duced population to this day, of the pueblos fronterizos, which played 
such an important part in the pacification of the country. Judging 
from their physical characteristics, the present inhabitants of the 
three villages are no longer pure Tlaxcaltecs, but the result of a 
union of these and some of the " Chichimecs." Nor do any of 
them now speak the old " Mexicano." There exist considerable 
friendship and even physical likeness between the natives of Temas- 
tian and the Tepecanos. 

Ruin Orcbn. — About six leagues southwest from Azcapotzalco, 
in a barranca, there is, according to the natives, a large ruined 
pueblo named Orcon, or Cerro de Orcon, similar in character to 
the ruins north of Askeltan, with petroglyphs, piedras labradas, 
etc. The inhabitants of Azcapotzalco, which is an old settlement, 
believe that Orcon was the original seat of those who founded their 
own pueblo. 

Rum Moviax. — Seven miles east-southeast of Santa Rita is a 
comparatively large and now Mexicanized town called Atolinga ; 
and four and a half leagues from here, in the broad valley that 
bears its name, lies the large old Mexican town of Tlaltenango. 
About five leagues north of the latter and nearly midway between 
it and Colotlan is an ancient ruin called Momax. The licenciate 
Romanez in Tlaltenango informed me that the ranchman on whose 
property the otherwise not pretentious ruin is situated, needing some 
stone, destroyed a mound and found in it many burned and also 
some unbumed human bones, together with various art objects, 
among which was some good pottery. Sr Romanez preserved one 
of the skulls, which I was able to measure, and he also kept a few 
damaged pieces of the pottery, one of which I obtained for the 
American Museum. The pottery exhibits different forms, but has 
the same artistic paint-inlaid decoration as the best pottery from 
Totoate, and even somewhat similar figures. 

Natives of the Valley of Tlaltenango. — At Tlaltenango, and 
especially throughout the valley south of it, the proportion of Indian 
blood increases, and there are ranches and even pueblos where not 
a few apparently pure -bloods can still be found. These natives are 
probably largely the descendants of introduced Tlaxcaltecs, for 



HRDLiCKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 427 

their facial and body type approach closely that common in Tlax- 
cala and in the valley of Mexico. A large and almost wholly native 
pueblo, of known origin, called San Pedro, lies in one of the tribu- 
tary valleys to the east of that of Tlaltenango, about half a day's 
journey from Tlaltenango itself. I shall later recur to this village. 

Teid} — A little less than a day's horseback journey south- 
southwest from Tlaltenango lies the famous ancient settlement, 
religious center, and fortress of Teul, once the most important seat 
of the " Teul-Chichimecs." Just north of Teul itself are several old 
native villages, the inhabitants of which show not a little mixture. 
What is known as Teul today is a fair-sized Mexican town at the 
foot of the ancient settlement, which was situated on a high, isolated 
hill, scalable only with difficulty, just south of the present Teul. 
The hill consists of a base of steep and in places vertical walls ; a 
broad, inclining, circular bank of land, trending eastward, on which 
is found a spring and a cave-reservoir of water ; and a large, conical 
elevation somewhat west of the middle. On the northern, eastern, 
and southern quarters of the belt-land are the remains of ancient 
Teul. These consist of mounds and large ruins with patios, as well 
as smaller ruins, all built of stone and in practically the same 
manner as the ruined structures of the Totoate group. The surface 
is everywhere overgrown and partly hidden by rank vegetation. 
The total area or mass of the ruin is not so great as one might 
expect from the notoriety of the place — it is smaller, for instance, 
than the ruins at the Banco de las Casas, south of Totoate — but 
there is no knowledge as to how much of Teul lay at the base of 
the hill, nor of how much has been obliterated by time and through 
the Mexicans. Enough remains, however, to deserve thorough 
exploration, for the largest mounds and structures have hardly yet 
been disturbed and appear to give promise of fruitful results to the 
archeologist. 

The soil about the ruins is rich in fragments of mostly crude, 
but also some rather nicely painted or incised pottery, and in 
chips of obsidian and other stones. A quite extensive part of the 
belt is cultivated. Human bones are found occasionally, but thus 
far none has reached any museum. I saw dug from the bank a 

' See Mota Padilla, His to Ha de la Conquista, p. 57- 



428 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

mesocephalic cranium, rather small, and in general of strong tex- 
ture. 

Among the few specimens which I obtained at Teul are the 
head of a small stone idol with a "flat face and a small axe with 
an animal head carved in profile on the butt. The latter corre- 
sponds exactly with the axes from the Totoate group, as well as 
with the two from La Quemada, recently made known by Batres,^ 
that have human or animal designs on the blunt end. 

Living Rejimants of the " Teul-Chicliimecs." — While at Teul I 
learned that two old villages of full-blood Indians were situated about 
six leagues west of Teul, and between the latter and the barranca 
of the Rio de Bolafios. These are San Lucas, or, as it is known 
to its inhabitants, Tepetitlan, and Tepisoac or Tepisoake. San Lucas, 
which lies about two leagues south of Tepetitlan, is probably the 
pueblo that Mota Padilla (page 58) speaks of as having been founded 
in 1530 by Onate, and in all probability was peopled by some of 
the inhabitants of Teul after the reduction of the latter place.- At 
all events there is a tradition among the natives of Tepetitlan that 
their ancestors inhabited the Teul district before the whites came, 
and I found nothing to controvert this belief. The introduced 
Tlaxcaltecs and their ^' p7ccblos frojiterizos" were situated a day's 
journey to the north. 

On reaching Tepetitlan, which lies in a pleasant and fertile de- 
pression in the highlands, I found it entirely deserted. It is a vil- 
lage of moderate size, with the houses mostly scattered. The 
dwellings, which are of stone, or of stone and adobe combined, 
are all quadrilateral, with gable-shaped vacate roofs — a type of 
structure common throughout the entire region. The absence 
of the inhabitants was partly due to the corn harvest, but mainly, 
as we found later, to the suspicion that I might be a government 
agent coming as the result of a recent revolutionary plot. For- 
tunately I had with me a man (the owner of the Teul hill) in 
whom the Indians had more confidence than they usually have in 
white men, so that eventually a few were induced to return, while 
others were sought and measured in the cornfields. I include in 
full the measurements of five full-grown men, from which it will 

^ Visita a los moniinieiitos arqucclogicos de La Qiiciuada. 



HRDLicKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 429 

be seen that these Indians are of small stature, often with relatively 
broad head and face, and a quite broad and short nose, in all of 
which, as well as in general physical appearance, they closely 
approach the Tepecanos (plate xliv, 1-3). 

Measurements of Men at San Lucas ( Tepetitlan) 



Approximate age. 


30 


55 


35 


65 


42 


Height (cm.). 


156.0 


158.5 


161. 9 


165-5 


165.9 


Head, diameter ant. - 












post. max. 


17.0 


18.3 


18.7 


18.35 


19-5 


Head, diameter lat. max. 


14.6 


14.6 


15-1 


15.2 


15.2 


Cephalic index. 


859 


79.8 


80.75 


82.83 


78.0 


Height of head from 












biauricular line. 


13-1 


12.8 


13-5 


12.8 


13-55 


Face, chin-nasion. 


10.6 


10.9 


II. 8 


12.2 


II. 8 


Face, chin-crinion. 


17-3 


17-5 


18.8 


17. 1 


17.0 


Diam. bizygom-max. 


14.0 


14.25 


13-4 


13.6 


14-5 


Diam. frontal min. 


9.9 


10.2 


10. 1 


10. 1 


1,0.7 


Diam. bigonial. 


9.8 


10.4 


10. 1 


10. 1 


II. 


Nose, height to nasion. 


4-55 


4-75 


5-2 


5.2 


4.9 


Nose, breadth max. 


3-75 


4-25 


3-9 


4.25 


4.25 


Nasal index. ^ 


82.4 


89.47 


750 


81.7 


86.7 


Mouth, breadth. 


6.0 


5-8 


5-7 


5-9 


6.0 


Hand, length. 


16.8 


18.2 


17-3 


18.1 


17.8 


Hand, breadth. 


8.1 


8.2 


7.8 


8.0 


8.2 


Foot, length max. 


22.8 


25.6 


23.6 


25-4 


25.2 


Foot, breadth max. 


9.9 


9-5 


9.0 


9-3 


10. 



Tepisoake, having been reported to be also deserted, was not 
visited ; but from what I could learn the two pueblos differ in 
nothing material. The only occupation of the natives of both is 
agriculture. All now speak Spanish, and even the old men could 
or would not inform me of any one who remembered any of the 
original language. The Indian name Tepetitlan is Nahua, as are 
practically all the native names in northern Jalisco and southern 
Zacatecas. Of Tepisoake I have not found the derivation. 

Other Probable Remnants of the " Chzchimecos." — In a shallow 
valley about five leagues northeast of Teul and a little more 

1 Average nasal index of Tepecanos = 83.6. 



430 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., S, 1903 

than that distance southeast of Tlaltenango, near the foot of the 
Cerro Chino, lie two larger and still almost wholly native pueblos, 
known as San Miguel and San Pedro. Both were among the settle- 
ments founded by Onate in 1530/ San Pedro is the larger village, 
numbering over a hundred men." The principal occupation of the 
inhabitants of both settlements is agriculture. The dwellings are 
similar to those at Tepetitlan ; the mode of life of the people is 
the same throughout the region among both whites and Indians, 
and is as above described. The only language current today is the 
Spanish. Some admixture with the whites is apparent and very 
probably some with the Indians of Tlaltenango valley. 

On account of the general disturbance caused by the suppressed 
revolution previously alluded to, and of the fear arising therefrom, 
my stay in the San Pedro district was brief. I was able to measure 
only four full-blood men. It would seem that the San Pedro 
natives in general are somewhat less brachycephalic than those of 
Tepetitlan ; and both the San Pedro men and women, although the 
nose is also short and broad, appear generally to be of a somewhat 
more refined physical type. But there are some physiognomies 
(plate XLiv, 4) that are very much like those of the natives of Tepe- 
titlan or those of the Tepecanos. The measurements of the four 
men are as follows : 



Measurements of . 


Men at San Pedro 






Approximate age. 


45 


35 


40 


22 


Height (cm.). 


163.7 


161. 7 


161. 3 


159.8 


Head, diam. ant. -post. max. 


19.0 


17.9 


18.2 


18.3 


Head, diam. lateral max. 


I5-I 


14.0 


14.6 


14.8 


Cephalic index 


79.5 


78.2 


80.22 


80.87 


Height of head from biauricular line. 


13-3 


12.9 


13-15 


13-05 


Face, height to nasion. 


II-5 


10.5 


II. 6 


II. 


Face, height to crinion. 


17-5 


16.3 


17.2 


17.2 


Face, diam. bizygom. max. 


14.4 


13.2 


X3.8 


14. 1 


Face, diam. frontal minim. 


10.4 


9.4 


10.2 


9-6 


Face, diam. bigonial. 


10.4 


10. 


9.8 


10.4 



1 Mota Padilla, Historia, p. 58. 

^ The local custom of giving the population of a place is to give the number of male 
adults. 



AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 



N. S., VOL. 5, PL. XLIV 




NATIVES OF TEPETITLAN AND SAN PEDRO 
Figs. I, 2, 3, Natives of Tepetitlan, District of Teul ; Fig. 4, Natives of San Pedro, District of Tlaltenango. 



5-1 


4-5 


4-85 


4-6 


4-35 


4-25 


4-15 


3-85 


85-3 


944 


85.6 


83-7 


6-5 


6.2 


5-8 


5-9 



hrdlicka] the ancient CHICHIMEC REGION 43 1 

Nose, height to nasion. 
Nose, breadth. 
Nasal index. 
Mouth, breadth. 

Cerro Chino and Neighborhood. — The high mountain known as 
Cerro Chino, which is on the road from Teul to Mixton, is a prom- 
inent landmark, being visible, except from the east, from almost 
every elevation from a little south of Jerez to below Teul. With 
Mixton it forms a part of the .long and rather narrow ridge that 
separates the Tlaltenango from the Juchipila valley. About its 
base are often found stone implements, particularly arrow and spear 
points, as well as decorated clay whorls, potsherds, etc. The 
mountain itself and the level parts of the ridge seem to be devoid 
of extensive ruins, but I learned of the remnants of many stone 
fincas in a fold of the ridge, some distance to the eastward of Cerro 
Chino, probably in the slope of the Juchipila valley. 

Mixton. — My next visit was to the famous Cerro de Mixton, 
half a day's journey to the northeast of Cerro Chino, the last stand 
of the united natives against the invading Spaniards in 1541. The 
mountain is easily accessible from the land side and is not imposing. 
It covers a part of the flat surface of the ridge, with a moderate 
conical elevation near the border, bounded on the west and south 
by a deep barranca, while on the east its usually steep, high 
walls face the Juchipila valley. So far as I was able to see or 
learn, there are no suggestions of the reported great conflict that 
took place here, but the area of the mountain is extensive and I 
was not able to stop long enough to explore it thoroughly. I 
returned from Mixton to the Cerro Chino, and, traversing a consider- 
able part of the ridge southward, descended to the Juchipila valley. 

Ancient Remains in the Juchipila Valley. — The practically un- 
explored district south of Juchipila, or Xuchipila, abounds with 
evidences of an ancient population. About three miles south of 
Juchipila is an elevation that projects like a wedge northward into 
the valley. The extremity of this elevation consists of two hills, 
the more northerly of which bears the peculiar name of Cerro de 
Chihuahua, while the other is designated Cerro de las Ventanas. 
Both of these hills, and especially the saddle-like concavity between 



432 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

them, contain many remnants of ancient habitations. On the north- 
eastern face of the Cerro de las Ventanas, for about one-third its 
height from the top, is an almost perpendicular wall, in a large 
niche at the base of which is found the most interesting part of the 
ruins, namely, a regular and well-preserved cliff-house. In all 
probability this is the most southerly cliff-house on the continent. 
It resembles considerably some of the cliff-houses I have seen in the 
canons of Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona, but it has the peculiarity 
of being painted on the outside. The structure measures a little 
more than forty feet in length and ^is about ten feet high. The 
walls are thick and are well built of selected but unhewn stones, 
the mortar used having apparently been of mud containing consid- 
erable lime and mixed with much broken grass. The ruin consists 
of but one wall, with no subdivision of the quite small cave behind 
it. Both faces of this wall^are plastered with cement of the same 
kind as that used in the joints. The outer surface shows six 
broad vertical stripes that [were once white. These stripes, which 
alternate with others of earth-color, equally broad, are clearly 
visible from the valley and for some distance toward Juchipila, and 
it is from their resemblance to windows that the cliff-house bears 
the designation " Las Ventanas." The four actual openings in the 
wall are all small, not unlike similar openings in many of the cliff- 
houses and pueblos in southwestern United States. The lowest 
of these (door?) openings is nearly two and a half feet high by 
slightly less than two feet in width. The three higher openings 
(windows ?) are each about a foot and a half by a foot in height 
and width. The cave itself is empty and barren. 

Another cave may be seen in the wall of the hill above the 
cliff-house, but it is not accessible by ordinary means. There are 
several other caves in the two hills. 

The ruins between and on the hills consist mostly of low stone 
foundations. There are several small elevations, possibly mounds. 
The whole settlement was comparatively large. It is possible that 
these ruins are those of the original "Xuchipila," reduced by Oiiate 
in the sixteenth century.^ 

The broad valley south of the Cerro de Chihuahua and that of 

1 Mota Padilla, Ilisloria, p. 55. 



HRDLiCKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 433 

Las Ventanas are covered with small elevations, and on many of 
these, for miles southward, are found remains of ancient occupancy. 
There are ruins on the Mesa de Guaje, near the Rancho de la Can- 
tera, at several points near Pueblo Viejo, rancho Tempiske, etc. 
At various places in the valley I heard of -painted earthenware 
idols, painted bowls, stone axes, shell objects, etc., as having been 
found accidentally or by treasure-seekers, but most of these ob- 
jects were, as usual, broken and the rest dispersed. All that I was 
able to recover from the people of the valley are a single small 
bowl, much like some of the painted bowls from Totoate, and two 
interesting clay figures which remind one of similar objects from 
southern Jalisco and Tepic. One of these figures shows a series of 
nose-rings in place. 

During my inquiries I was repeatedly informed of bone caves 
and bone discoveries near the Pueblo Viejo, above mentioned, 
which is a moderate sized village of mixed-blood Mexicans, a little 
more than ten miles south of Juchipila. On visiting this locality I 
found some ruins and caves, but all had been despoiled. Engaging 
some of the natives, I excavated at several places, and during the 
few days at my disposal found several old burials which yielded 
seven valuable skulls, as well as a few choice art objects includ- 
ing an onyx ceremonial axe, several copper nose-rings, and some 
decorated shell ornaments. The most interesting object recovered, 
however, is a piece of a human skull with two, apparently post- 
mortem, artificial perforations (plate xli, 13). It was in this 
village that I purchased the little bowl, dug out in a field some 
months before, that so much resembles the painted pottery from 
Totoate, although the two places a reseparated by a distance of 
about one hundred miles. In general character the ruins them- 
selves are much alike in the two localities. 

North of Juchipila ruins seem to be more rare, but I had only 
limited opportunities for personal exploration, and the ignorant 
natives can not be trusted. Between the ranches of Cofradia and 
the large artificial lake south of it, near the road from Juchipila to 
Jalpa, I found a large, apparently ancient, regular, quadrilateral 
mound about two and a half feet high. This promising " inogote " 
has not yet been disturbed. 

AM. ANTH,, N. S., S — 28. 



434 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

From Jalpa to Tabasco ^ the country is more sparsely populated, 
and I obtained no information or actual knowledge of value as to 
its archeology. 

The Juchipila valley up to Tabasco is mostly inhabited by 
a mixed population, which in some localities approaches more the 
white, in others the Indian type. Among the more Indian physi- 
ognomies there is a general resemblance to those of Tepetitlan 
and San Pedro, and the skulls from near Pueblo Viejo show ap- 
parently the same type of people. 

From Tabasco, continuing northward, the road leads toward 
Villa Nueva and the valley of La Quemada. This valley is sepa- 
rated from that of Juchipila by a low mountain ridge, on the southern 
slope of which are the ruins of another quite large ancient pueblo. 
There are many low stone foundations, many mounds or mogotes 
of stone or earth, and some walls or remnants of walls that probably 
once served for retaining the water and the soil. The whole ruin 
has thus far been left untouched by despoilers. The site of the 
ruin is known among the arrieros as Guayavo. Other ruins prob- 
ably exist in the mountains to the northeast and west of this place. 

LA QUEMADA 
This great ruin, favored by its situation near Zacatecas, as well as 
through reference to it by early historical writers, such as Torque- 
mada, Tello, and later Frejes, has received'a fair amount of scientific 
attention, yet thorough exploration is still desirable. The best de- 
scription and plans of the ruin are those of M. Guillemin-Tarayre, 
published in 1869.^ The included plan by C. de Berghes is par- 
ticularly valuable on account of its detail, which shows the ancient 
roads and many of the smaller habitations now difficult of location. 
During the present year L. Batres published a monograph on La 
Quemada ^ with some good photographic illustrations but very little 
new descriptive matter. Other accounts of the ruin have been pub- 
lished by Gutierrez, Lyon, Esparza (Rivera's account), Burkart, and 
Nebel.^ In the light of these studies, my own observations can 

1 " Mecatabasco " in Mota Padilla, Historia, p. 56. 
^Archives de la Commission Scicntifiqtie du Mexique, vol. in. 

• Visita a las monunientos arqtieologicos de La Quemada, Mexico, 1903. 

* See Bancroft, N'aiive Races, iv, 578-592. 



HRDLICKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 435 

convey but little that is new or of special value except that they 
may in a general way give indication of the character of the ruin as 
it exists today and point to certain important resemblances between 
it and the Totoate group as well as other ruins herein mentioned. 

The Spanish name La Quemada signifies "the burnt (one)," but 
there is nothing now visible which justifies the name. If signs of 
fire in the structure existed when the Spaniards first saw it, they 
have disappeared, at least from the surface. Apparently Bancroft ^ 
is entirely correct in his opinion that " the name Quemada, * burnt,' 
is that of a neighboring hacienda " and that " there is no evidence 
that it has any connection with the ruins," the local name of which 
is " Los Edificios." Yet the ruin is so generally known by the name 
La Quemada that the term has been retained in this paper. 

The ruin is situated on a low, isolated mountain with three sum- 
mits, a little south of the middle of the narrow valley which ex- 
tends from the base of the mountains of the city of Zacatecas to 
some leagues below Villa Nueva. The mountain or hill of La 
Quemada is nearly thirty miles by road from Zacatecas, twelve 
miles north of Villa Nueva, and nearly four miles north of the 
Hacienda de la Quemada. From the highest point of the Cerro de 
los Edificios it is possible to view almost the entire valley as well 
as the slopes of the sierras that bound it laterally. 

The ruin itself is unquestionably a remnant of the most remark- 
able ancient structure north of the Rio Santiago. In compactness 
and plan, in structural quality, and especially in differentiation of 
purpose, it exceeds not only the more northern Casas Grandes of 
Chihuahua or Zape in Durango, but also the celebrated Tula in the 
south. It represents a vast amount of labor and must have occu- 
pied, even with swarms of workmen, many decades in its construc- 
tion ; yet the entire structure seems to show unity of plan and con- 
tinuity of execution. The ruin exhibits evidence of considerable 
age, but notwithstanding this and some recent spoliation, such as 
the removal of building stones for fences, it is still remarkably well 
preserved and is well worthy of further archeological study. 

La Quemada is not the ruin of an ordinary town, although it 
contained some inhabitants. It was plainly a defensive structure, 

1 Native Races, iv, 579-580. 



43^ AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

and unquestionably is the most elaborate ancient fortification in 
northern Mexico ; at the same time it probably served as a theo- 
cratic center. 

The ruin consists of: (i) Some outlying structures and ter- 
races on the south. (2) A great temple and courtyard on an 
artificial (or at least partly artificial) high stone terrace that runs 
from the main ruin hill eastward. (3) A main pyramid, built on 
an artificial stone terrace on the east of the main ruin hill, a little 
northward from the temple. (4) The main ruin hill structures, built 
on several more or less artificial stone terraces. (5) Two structures 
between the main ruin and the more southwesterly hill. (6) A 
structure on the summit of the southwestern hill. (7) A structure 
in the depression between the northwestern and the northern hill. 
(8) Fortifications. (9) Connecting avenues and diverging roads. 

1. The outlying part of the ruin consists of a pyramidal stone 
structure, now crumbling ; a large, low flat terrace ; a single straight 
row of ruined houses extending toward the base of the main ruin 
hill ; and a broad, elevated avenue, paved with slabs laid flat, ex- 
tending from the low terrace to that on which stands the temple. 
On the lower part of the southwestern slope of the main ruin hill 
are several regular, terraced rows of ruined dwellings which connect 
with the other outlying structures by the single row of houses 
above referred to, 

2. The temple is nearly square. The walls, which are built of 
selected flat stones of medium size, still reach a maximum height 
of ten feet and are five to eight feet in thickness. Within the. 
temple are eleven, mostly well preserved, perfectly cylindrical 
pillars, about five feet in diameter, built of selected smaller flat 
stones, laid in adobe-like mortar (now largely washed out) and 
reaching approximately the same height as the walls. The temple 
opens into a large, stone-filled court. The walls of the latter struc- 
ture are lower than those of the temple ; they are also not so 
thick and are not so well preserved. The row of columns that 
M. Tarayre mentions as having existed here have disappeared. 
One particular feature which I encountered in the court is some 
stone cysts, exactly like those found nearly seventy miles distant in 
the " temple " at the Banco de las Casas ruin in Jalisco. Near where 



HRDLiCKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHI MEC REGION 437 

apparently the entrance to the temple courtyard was situated, and just 
at the proximal end of the paved avenue leading from the outlying 
structures to the temple, is a small, conical mound of stone. On 
and about this mound, and between the stones composing it, I found 
a number of fragments of pottery, among which were several with 
the paint-inlaid variety of decoration such as I recovered from Toto- 
ate and as was found at Momax, north of Tlaltenango/ 

3. The great pyramid stands quite isolated in a large, quadrilat- 
eral, court-like space which opens eastward. The structure was ap- 
parently connected with the temple by an avenue or plaza. The stones 
from which it is built and the manner of building are similar to 
those of the walls throughout the ruin. It still stands about thirty- 
five feet in height on a wider stone terrace from six to twelve feet 
high. The pyramid is quadrilateral, each side measuring sixteen 
meters at the base,^ with diameter gradually diminishing toward 
the summit, which is blunt and partly destroyed. The sides of 
the structure are oriented, although not perfectly. The walls are 
cracked and otherwise damaged, and only a mild earthquake, fortu- 
nately rare in this region, would perhaps suffice to demolish it. 
At the base of the main ruin hill and nearly in line with the pyra- 
mid is a cave of moderate size, the floor of which is paved with flat 
stones while the walls are blackened by smoke. 

At some distance from the pyramid and cave there are some 
small scattered ruins, and the earth is sparsely mixed with small 
sherds of crude as well as of a better quality of painted earthenware. 
A stone flake may be found now and then. The whole place is 
thickly overgrown with tuna, making a full view of the lower 
structures very difficult, 

4. The main ruin hill presents three large, more or less arti- 
ficial, stone-built terraces which are barely accessible. Each of 
these terraces contains ruins of dwellings as well as of structures 
that probably served for ceremonial purposes and for assembly. 



1 It is probable that some of the potsherds have been brought to the surface by 
rodents. The owner of the Hacienda de la Quemada has in his collection two or three 
imperfect pieces of this paint-inlaid pottery and several pieces, also imperfect, of painted 
ware exceedingly like the Totoate variety, all obtained from or near the ruins of La 
Quemada. Some of the pieces, as well as additional specimens, are illustrated in plates 
18, 22, and 23 of Batres' report, op. cit. 

2 According to Tarayre. Batres' measurements give 16 to 18.2 meters. 



438 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

Throughout the terraces the quadrilateral form of construction pre- 
vails. In one spot only, on the middle terrace, may an exception 
be noted in a circular, kiva-like outline in the middle of one part of 
the ruin. The walls are always thick and are built throughout, in 
the same manner, of not very large, selected, more or less flat stones, 
the exposed face of many of which has undoubtedly been roughly 
fashioned, but in no case nicely hewn or rubbed down. It is prob- 
able that the stones were laid in some sort of adobe mortar, as men- 
tioned by Tarayre and others, but if so it has weathered away. 
The terraces, which must have cost an immense amount of labor, 
are in regular but steep slopes, and are built in nearly the same 
manner as the walls of the various other structures. 

The character of the terraces and walls is much like that of the 
ruins of the Totoate group and of those in southern Zacatecas, but 
the proportion of masonry in La Quemada is incomparably greater 
than that of any other ruin group. The construction in La Que- 
mada reminds one also of that of the ruined stone-built pueblos in 
New Mexico and Arizona, although there are some pronounced 
differences between the former and the pueblo ruins of the north. 

On the eastern portion of the first terrace is a ruin of a structure 
that consisted of a number of rooms of medium size. Farther west- 
ward are other ruins in poor condition. The middle terrace, appar- 
ently the most important one, shows high, fairly well preserved 
walls of large buildings which originally must have been at least 
two stories high. There is also a quadrilateral court, near the 
northern side of which is a small, flat-topped, stone-built, terraced 
pyramid, about ten feet high. The third terrace contains smaller 
ruins. On the southern slope of this part of the three-peaked moun- 
tain are, as mentioned before, five or six rows of ruined dwellings on 
low terraces. The very top of the main ruin hill is barren. 

5. In the shallow saddle between the mountain last mentioned 
and the southwestern part is the ruin of a massive quadrilateral 
structure, and near this is the remnant of a stone terrace.^ 

6. The summit of the southwestern hill contains the ruin of a 
large stone house that must have been of more than one story and 
which contained several rooms. There is also near this house a 
pyramidal stone mound. 

1 See Tarayre' s plan in his plate v or in Ratres' report. 



HRDLicKA] THE ANCIENT CHICHIMEC REGION 439 

7. From the ruin just mentioned an avenue, not indicated on 
Tarayre's plan, slightly terraced and paved, leads downward toward 
the northern part of the mountain. Just at the base of this part 
is found, on a high terrace, 'the well-preserved ruin of another 
building of moderate size. Slightly behind this building is a regu- 
lar space and some low ruins. 

8. The entire northwestern hill and the whole of the northern 
hill are surrounded by a well-built defensive stone wall, ten feet 
broad (and even broader at the northwest), and in places from ten to 
twelve feet high. Formerly, according to Tarayre's plan, a similar 
wall extended also along the northern side of the southwestern hill, 
but today only traces of this remain. Some rude breastworks are 
intact on the western slope of the main ruin hill, commanding the 
saddle between this and that on the west ; and there are various 
other structures which probably served as fortifications. Wherever 
the walls or fortifications end, the mountain presents either steep 
or totally inaccessible sides, or the bulwarks of the stone-built ter- 
races. Altogether there rises before the visitor an imposing, mas- 
sive, walled fortress of stone, not unlike some of the feudal strong- 
holds of mediaeval Europe. 

9. Besides the avenue leading from the outlying works to the 
temple, that from the temple to the great pyramid (now traceable 
only with difficulty), and that leading from the ruin on the top of 
the southwestern hill to the one at the base of the northern part 
of the mountain, there can be made out, especially after the first 
rains of the wet season, owing to the difference in the color of the 
earth and other signs, several roads radiating from La Quemada in 
various directions. On occasions, I was informed, these roads 
can be traced for considerable distances.^ 

Nowhere in or about La Quemada have I found petroglyphs ^ or 
worked slabs of stone, such as are common at Totoate. Potsherds 
and stone flakes may be found almost everywhere about the ruin, 
but they are in no place abundant and at many points are scarce. 
Aside from the fragments of pottery above mentioned a day's search 
resulted in no important find. 

1 See Berghe's plan in Tarayre's report. 

^Tarayre (and also Batres, plate 24) mentions and pictures the face of a rock in 
the neighborhood with several upright serpent figures, and by other authors a slab with 
carved hand and foot is spoken of. 



440 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., 5, 1903 

With La Quemada the stone ruins of southern Zacatecas and 
the neighboring region practically end. It appears as if this struc- 
ture was built through the combined efforts of a great people living 
farther southward and possibly including the entire population of 
the valley of Juchipila, Tlaltenango, and Rio de Bolafios, as a pro- 
tection against northern invaders. The great ruined fort and teocalli 
can not be separated culturally from those to the south and south- 
west of it. The inlaid and painted pottery, the ceremonial axes, 
some of the idols, the ordinary axes (pictured by Batres), the pecu- 
liar stone cysts near the temple, the form of the stone structures, 
all connect it more immediately with Totoate, Momax, Teul, and 
other ruins referred to in this paper, than with those of any other 
region. There is some resemblance in type between the ruins of 
La Quemada and those at Zape and its vicinity (there are small 
stone ruins as far as Santa Catarina de los Tepehuanes), but from 
Zape to La Quemada, without any known connecting link in the 
way of ruins, there lies a stretch of nearly three hundred miles. 
There is also typical relation with more southerly ruins, but the 
first attention is claimed by those in the vicinity. 

I trust that this account, superficial and imperfect as it necessarily 
is, will stimulate further and more extended research in the country 
of the " Chichimecs," a country hitherto supposed to be barren. 
As to the physical anthropology of this part of northern Mexico I 
shall have something more definite to present when the elaboration 
of my somatological material is completed. 

In conclusion I feel obliged to refer, in a few words more, to the 
treasure-hunters in Mexico. There is no law to restrain such people, 
yet they destroy each year more ancient remains of every description 
than do the elements and all other sources combined. Wherever 
I searched for osteological or other remains of the ancient people, I 
encountered traces of this vandalism. As spoliation is here very 
largely due to ignorance, the Mexican civil authorities, men of sci- 
ence, clericals, and newspapers could do much good to local arche- 
ology by inspiring a proper regard for these interesting monuments 
and for the objects connected with them. 



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